Our Lady Of Grace Parish - The Renovation Project

 

 What Keeps us from being a Gathered Assembly?

"You have all the elements of good liturgy in place with room for ongoing growth and development, but something is missing in your worship." That was the case at Our Lady of Grace Parish. A diocesan evaluation of our liturgy stated that all the liturgical ministers from hospitality ministers to ushers to servers to lectors to eucharistic ministers to musicians to deacons to presiders functioned well and prayerfully. However, it revealed that we did not have the primary element on which all else depends, and that is a gathered assembly. A determining factor in that problem was that there are seats for 550 people, while we have an average of 250 at any Eucharistic celebration. Our people were scattered all over the church!

The Worship Committee decided to tackle this problem! We couldn’t rope off the back pews. People who sit there would simply get angry and either leave or move forward without hearing a word of explanation! A 72-year-old woman on the committee suggested that we should move back to them, if we loved them. In other words, let us rope off the front third of the church, remove two pews from the middle of the church and set up a temporary altar, ambo and presider’s chair there. With trepidation we did just that. The response was remarkable. There was a gathering, and people loved that fact. The only complaint we heard was that we should be doing this in the front of the church. We explained that we all needed a new focus. We decided that we would stay in the middle aisle for two months because years of tradition make strong habits. During this time the regional bishop came for a parish visitation. He presided from the middle aisle and affirmed what we were doing.

After two weeks in the middle of the church, we realized that when we did return to the front of the church, people would quickly return to their old places. All would be lost. We knew that the only way to keep the gathering was to remove some of the seats. We asked the Building and Maintenance Committee of the parish if they would help the Worship Committee to develop a plan for renovation. We are a poor city parish and would need to do most of this ourselves. We visited parishes in the area and drew up ten possible floor plans. Together the committees came up with a final plan to present to the parish.

At the end of the two months we held a Parish Liturgical Assembly for everyone to come and evaluate the changes. We had made other simple improvements in the liturgy at this same time. To a person, they loved the idea of being together rather than scattered. Also, to a person they wanted to return to the front of the church. We told them that we all knew what would happen the following week if the seating arrangement was not changed. They laughed, because they knew that they would immediately return to their old seats. So, we presented our proposal for the renovated church, which had seating for 350 rather than 550. We told them that we would throw it away, if they did not approve. Ninety seven percent not only liked it but were thrilled with it. There were some questions, and a few had some reservations. The decision was made to go ahead with the renovation, and the work began the following night.

In the course of the renovations we had 85 volunteers at one time or another taking out pews, ripping up carpet, building a half moon to extend the sanctuary space, removing platforms from the sanctuary, fixing and putting ends on pews taken away from the wall, lowering the ambo, building a presiders chair from a pew, doing some painting, putting in a new sub floor with tiling (the only area in the whole project where we had some professional help), angling all the pews and doing the finishing touches. This all took place in less than ten weeks and without having to cancel a single celebration. The diocese came back and told us that the cost of this renovation should have been around $200,000. The actual cost was $15,000!

 

The results for worship are remarkable. The space is more open, bright and inviting. There is now a good size gathering space in the back of the church. The acoustics are greatly enhanced. The floors of the sanctuary and the nave are tiled with the same tile creating the realization that we are all participants in the whole of our worship. Most importantly, at every gathering at Our Lady of Grace, we have an assembly of God’s people.

P.S. If you have questions or want more information about this renovation, please feel free to call 617-884-0030

 

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