The Building works in Church
It has taken from just after Christmas 2008 until Easter 2008 to complete the building works in our Church. But the planning for these changes began in 2003 when the first phase of changes happened, the font was moved, the Narthex was altered, a Kitchen, a new Piety Shop appeared, and the Adoration Chapel and St. Anne’s chapel had screens put up with see-through doors put on them. That was phase one of a two-phase plan that would include necessary improvement of the floor covering.
In this new work, Paul Lupton was in charge of the marble work, and Graham Ormiston organised the electrical work. Paul not only carefully moved the altar and removed the old marble, but also removed the three steps on which the altar stood. Then he replaced the sanctuary marble and rebuilt the altar. It took two weeks simply to polish the new marble, which is now gleaming. The renewed sanctuary is in fact a work of art that merits some careful appraisal. The old altar rests on the floor of the renewed sanctuary without its steps. Look at the beautiful patterns of marble, and see the foundation stone now at the Piazza side of the sanctuary where people will notice it often for the first time.
Meanwhile Graham’s men renovated the electrical conduits under the sanctuary and provided new sockets for the sound system. The Carpet firm repaired the floor under the benches and carpeted the ambulatory the aisles and the rotunda around the sanctuary. Graham has fitted new lights, and John has up-graded the sound system. Paul will finish the Ambo (Lectern) after the other work is done, and in time we will have we hope a screen and back projector enabling us to watch and hear appropriate films when necessary in Church, something that has become increasingly popular and helpful, as those of us who went to either the Youth Alive mass or the High School events in Church can warrant.
Some people are asking: Why did it get done? What is the purpose? Was it not quite good before?
The answer to the last question was yes, but we had serious problems. The major one concerned the floor that was breaking up and was a health and safety hazard. We HAD to do something or we would find the Church unusable. People could trip and break a leg. Furthermore the linoleum was very slippery in certain humid weather conditions, and one parishioner had already broken a limb on the slope down to the altar.
So we then had to decide what parts of the floor should be repaired. Should we leave the old podium behind the font? And we were aware that the heating was sometimes not very strong so if we changed the heating system how would that affect the floor area? We could not repair the floor until we had discovered the answers to such questions.
After four long years of looking at the challenges presented and every kind of heating system, we realised that our Church has some features that make it’s heating a difficult problem to solve. It is not an insulated building and it loses heat easily. It is not possible to insulate it because that would destroy the artistic feature of the stain glass windows that are part of its post war listed status. Moreover the concrete ceiling is a huge area that cannot be insulated, and the same is true for the red brick upper walls and the triangular windows. If we had put in radiators it would not be acceptable from an aesthetic viewpoint, and furthermore they would be very ineffective because the heat would rise and disappear. The conclusion these facts les us to adopt was that we must remain with the pressure-air system, a heating system that is not always adequate in very cold weather partly because of the lack of insulation.
We then decided that it would be good to renew our podium, behind the font. This podium for the presidential chair was in fact a temporary solution to the challenge to find the best place for the priest to preside when the Church is full. The podium was in fact a simple wooden structure nailed together, covered in a red carpet that was the worse for wear. We used it occasionally when the Church was full. We felt we should build a structure for the presiding priest that was not temporary, that was not a health and safety hazard as the other had been, for there was no protection from falling off it, and that was fitting and beautiful for a Church of such a high artistic standard as ours. Also we had the money for a loyal Parishioner who used to be in charge of the ministers of the Eucharist had left the parish a generously large legacy. It came “out of the blue” and was so generous we felt we must give 10% of it away to the poor, (10 K) and the remainder could be used as a fitting tribute in the Church, that was also for a useful purpose, to David Coupe. Once the design was accepted, and it would affect the shape of the aisle in that area and therefore the area of floor to be covered anew, we could get on with the changes.
The architects produced eight different designs for the renewed podium. We gathered a group of monks and parishioners and chose the one that we thought best, and decided to put the idea to the Ampleforth trustees.
The Ampleforth trustees did not reject the idea, but asked us to go to the Art and Architecture department of the Archdiocese to present them with our thoughts. They would be advised by the Archdiocese. That was in the Autumn of 2006.
In the event when we met with the Art and Architecture team under Professor John Tarn in January 2007 we received a shock. These artistic and liturgically learned men and women felt that the Church, designed in the early 1960’s and completed in 1964 was a revolutionary one of great import, but that the Altar and sanctuary betrayed a liturgical outlook and a theology of priesthood that belonged to that past era. Things have moved on in the past 44 years since our Church was opened and this was the time to make changes. They of course realised our need for a renewed floor but that was not their focus of interest.
They convinced us that the altar was too high, that it needed to be lowered to the sanctuary level, and that a solution should be found to provide both an Ambo (Lectern) that was fitting to give prominence to the Word of God, and a Presidential Chair that would be in use for all liturgies as far as possible. Furthermore these three fundamental elements of the sanctuary, altar, ambo and presidential chair, should be in a harmonious relationship on the sanctuary. This would obviate the renewal of the podium, which would once again leave that “aisle” of the Church open on its main axis leading to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel where we find the tabernacle. This gave the solution to the area of the floor that needed a new covering.
Before
Practical considerations also came in: without the steps up to the altar there was no need for the unsightly hand-rails that we had put in to support older priests and others climb the steps. The new altar would be useable (with a simple ramp if necessary for a wheel chair) even for a priest who was frail and elderly. Most in Church would be able to see on top of it. This design was also in line with a better health and safety policy, as well as with the Church in the third millennium in which young priests would probably not be leading liturgy as often as the more elderly and sometimes infirm priests.
After letting these ideas sink into our hearts and minds, we put the ideas to the Ampleforth Trustees in the spring of 2007. The Trustees, deliberating on the matter for only a short time, which was unlike the previous occasion, were unanimous and decisive in accepting these ideas. That was interesting and encouraging.
We then needed to gain approval of the Parish Pastoral Council, and this was forthcoming after some debate, especially about the ambo, and the expense. We established that we could afford the changes, thanks to a legacy left to the Parish. Parishioners had also been donating money for some years by supporting our 500 club.
The Parish also approved the scheme after a meeting in October for all who wished to come. Many burning issues came up, though none opposed to the principle of the scheme. In fact the mood and consensus of that meeting was very supportive of the scheme. The Parish Pastoral Council deemed this also as support. So we had one more hurdle to jump and that happened when the Historic Churches Commission gave their unanimous consent in November 2007, to lower the altar, to carpet the Church, to improve the lighting and to allow us to make provision for audio-visual equipment that would enable us to project, watch and hear film strips or liturgical words, for the enhancement of the liturgy and for other events. We realised that if we could start work in January 2008 we had a chance of finishing it by Easter, and the work would be done before the building price rises of the spring and summer. It has been a close run photo finish for work will be going on until we enter the Church on Maundy Thursday for the first time since we have been out of the Church from January 2008!
We were always conscious that our Church in Leyland is used frequently for non liturgical use, and among other things, by Wellfield School for prize giving, the Primary Schools for carols, our Technology College for liturgical events and also this year for the first time, Prize giving, and also for concerts by various orchestras, choral societies and brass bands. However we felt that primarily it must be seen, used and respected as a Church, and as the Word of God should be honoured in a prominent way we would have a fixed and specially designed Ambo.
The position of the presidential chair provided a greater challenge, one which Archbishop Patrick Kelly advised on a visit is always the most difficult to resolve. Our ideas at present are that we should leave the presidential chair in the position we have it for Sunday mass, even when the Church is full, so that the Priest is not too far away from the people. Those behind the chair will hear and see everything, even though the Priest will have his back to them. In time we may even order a new and more fitting chair from which to preside, but our thinking is that it should not be fixed for flexibility; for instance we may occasionally feel it better to preside at some liturgies “the backwards way round” towards the font.
This short article attempts to give the reasons for these changes. We now have a carpeted floor which may improve the heating and seems to make the Church more intimate; a sanctuary which does not give undue prominence to the ordained Priest though his distinctive role remains clear; we have tried to improve the lighting, we hope the sound will be better, and we have painted the ambulatory ceiling, the Blessed Sacrament Chapel ceiling, the high wall in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, and provided audio-visual possibilities that we think will be beneficial for the future.
After
These changes to the structure of the Church are the most significant since it was built, and we want them to be a legacy for the next fifty years or so. We do not expect everyone to like these changes, but we hope that in time most people will realise the benefits, and will think that this was the Church design from the beginning. If this does happen the changes will be a success. We will then have a largely contented parish from the point of view of its Church building, and we will have a parish that has paid for these developments from the generosity of its people and it will also be a memorial to a loyal faithful parishioner, David Coupe.
Our challenge now is to nurture and support all the people of the Parish and of our Leyland and wider community, so that the Church in the third millennium has strong foundations. We especially want to keep in touch with those who are disconnected with us for whatever reason, with those who may never have been within any of Christian Churches, for we realise that at the end of the day the people matter far more than the bricks and mortar, and that the gospel of God’s immense Love for each person is as valid now as it ever was. That is the challenge for the future.
Fr. Jonathan
