Risen Christ Parish was filled with expectant hope last Sunday as members of the parish community crowded back into the church after eight months of Masses in the gym while the church underwent a major renovation.
Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila joined the parish to celebrate the renovation and to dedicate the altar before its first use.
"My heart is filled with gratitude today, first and foremost, for Jesus Christ and for the living out of our faith. My heart is filled with gratitude for you, the faithful of Risen Christ, who have renovated this church building. It is much brighter. It is much more beautiful. And the light in it reminds us of him [Jesus]," Archbishop Aquila said.
The morning was full of rejoicing and reunion among the parish family — even the fire alarm couldn't control its excitement as it rang out during the dedication!
"It was beautiful. It was absolutely beautiful. And I didn't expect anything different," said Sue Jacoby, a member of the parish for over 50 years, reflecting on the beauty of the event. "Our altar servers were perfect. They were perfect. The music was perfect. I thought it was wonderful. Archbishop did a great job."
"It was also great to see my friends again," Jacoby continued. "There's a pew up in the front that we call 'The Widow's Pew,' but we all got split up while Mass was in the gym. Now we're back together!"
What started as an aesthetic renovation project that was met with initial pushback from parishioners became a deepening of the parish's mission that all may come closer to the Lord.
"About a year or two before COVID, we started this process of having a conversation with the community about renovations," shared Father Scott Bailey, the parish's pastor. "People were wary of the project, so we started having a number of 'town hall' meetings in an open forum style. It was interesting to hear people's feedback. There were people who were very much for the project and people who were very much against the project."
With a strong connection to the original church, Mary Ann Castellano, another long-time member of the parish, was not convinced the renovations were necessary.
"I was here when it was dirt and the Archbishop told us they were going to build a church here, so I've been here for it all," she said of her long-standing connection to Risen Christ.
"I was angry when they said they were going to renovate because I love the church. I was here when the church was first built, so I couldn't imagine changing something that was already beautiful," she continued.
Understanding the deep connection his parishioners had to the church, Father Bailey sought to make the renovation process collaborative and reflective of the community's voice.
"I wanted people to feel like they had a role in this. I didn't want it to feel like it was a 'Father Scott Project,'" he said.
(Photo Provided)
After multiple meetings, Father Bailey and a group from the parish met and prayed with the feedback they had received. Only through this prayer did they understand what the Holy Spirit really had in mind for the renovation: accessibility.
"Over the years, we realized that accessibility was becoming a really important need in our community or in some of our offices. As our community has gotten older, many find it difficult to remain in the choir, for example, because there were a lot of steps leading up to the choir loft," Father Bailey explained. "We had people in wheelchairs who would tell me that they didn't come here on Sundays because they couldn't get into the restroom because it wasn't accessible. And then, of course, people with walkers couldn't even get their walker through our stylistically narrow confessional doors. So they have to turn their walkers sideways to walk in, which terrified me as the priest in the confessional watching them walk in."
Another major factor of the renovation was to improve the sound system, and by doing so, making the Word of God more accessible to everyone in the pews.
Father Bailey expressed the desire to keep the building feeling like home, especially for long-time parishioners.
"We have a lot of people who have been here since the beginning, who have raised their families here. The church means a lot to them," Father Bailey said. "So I really want to make sure that we were respectful of what it was originally. I think it still feels like home. I hope it feels like home to the people who've been here for a long time and that I hope that they feel like we've respected what it has been."
At the great rededication of the newly renovated church, Castellano felt just that.
"Seeing the church with the people in it, to me, there was a large comfort in all of it. It felt like home," she said.
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