Altar of Repose 

Our parish is blessed with two beautiful churches. St. Gabriel’s was built in 1964, originally as a multi-purpose space, serving as both church and school gym. When plans to build a free-standing church were abandoned, the space was designated permanently as a church, and a gym was included in the later expansion of the school building. During Fr. LaPastina’s pastorate, the church was renovated to look as it does now. 

St. Cecilia’s was built in 1956 during the pastorate of Fr. Myron Miller. Like most Latin Rite churches prior to the Second Vatican Council, it was built with the altar against the sanctuary’s back wall, and the priest would offer Mass ad orientem, facing the same direction as the congregation. After the Council, it became common practice for the priest to offer Mass versus populum, facing the congregation. To make that possible, Fr. Heffernan moved the altar several feet away from the wall. This also required moving the tabernacle from its original position on the altar itself. The tabernacle was moved to its current location in the niche in the back wall where originally there had been a crucifix. In the 1990s the church underwent a more extensive modification during Msgr. Watts’ pastorate. The sanctuary was extended into the nave, and the altar was moved from the raised platform by the back wall to its current location.  

Over the past five years I have found that the placement of the tabernacle in the niche of the church creates some challenges. Most significantly, it makes retrieving and reposing the Eucharist during Mass difficult. There is no altar in front of the niche on which the priest might place the Eucharist before opening or closing the tabernacle. The risk of dropping the ciborium, the metal container from which the priest distributes Communion, is great, especially if both of his hands are occupied. Another challenge is that the niche is located high on the wall. If we were to just place a small altar below the niche, most priests would not be able to reach the tabernacle. After lengthy deliberation as well as consultation with members of parish leadership, I believe the solution to this issue is to remove the tabernacle from the niche and place it on a small altar situated against the sanctuary’s back wall. The new altar of repose would be the altar formerly used at St. Gabriel’s. This altar would not only make the retrieval and reposition of the Eucharist safer and more reverent, it would also make the sanctuary more beautiful, filling the large empty space in front of the back wall. The tabernacle would be flanked on the altar by matching candles and flowers, when appropriate. As for the niche, because the back of it had to be cut out to hold the tabernacle, we will hang a curtain inside of it for the time being. My hope is that this new arrangement will be in place for the first Sunday of Advent. As pastor, I know that any changes made to the appearance of a church can be a sensitive issue. If you have any questions about the plan, I would be happy to try to answer them. 

posted 11/16/24