JB Powers at the Society of St. Barbara blog warns us that someone has the bright idea that the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield Illinois is in need of some wreckovation. The want to destroy the work of renowned architect Joseph McCarthy.
He relays an anonymous email that tells of the dastardly plan:
“They want to remove the old high altar entirely as well as the communion rails and add some sort of semi-circular steps to the sanctuary”
No! No! No! Powers has his suggestion on how to renovate the Cathedral:
I get asked all the time “how can we renovate our Church”. In most cases (Post WW2) , the whole thing needs torn down and rebuilt. In this Cathedral, the answer is “with a vacuum cleaner”. This is as near perfect as an Illinois Cathedral gets. Vacuum, dust, sweep, but do not make any changes to the masterpiece as McCarthy designed.
He suggests that we have two options:
1) Shout “STOP” at the top of the Capital Building before this interior is ruined (Seriously call Bishop Lucas and politely suggest he consider the Liturgical Intent of the original architect)
2) Start raising funds now so that 20 years from today we can put this Church back into order after it is wrecked.
I like option number one better. If you agree, send a polite message to the Bishop to aks him to please leave well enough alone. Just this once.
P.S. Please let people know about this if you can. Maybe we can stop it.
February 11, 2008 at 2:33 pm
the liturgical consultant for this project is Carol Frenning. Samples of her work can be seen at http://www.cfrenning.com/portfolio.htm
February 11, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Gee, thanks, you just ruined my day. I live in the Springfield, Illinois diocese and have had occasion to travel to the Cathedral for ordinations. It is a beautiful place. I imagine it will look a lot less beautiful when they are done with it. But I will contact the bishop anyway.
Sharon
March 5, 2008 at 11:19 am
You sound like Chicken Little. Get the facts before spouting nonsense. It’s never a good idea to rely on rumors.
March 5, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Jeffrey,
That wasn’t particularly helpful. If you have other information that would enlighten us all, please share it.
December 7, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Well, I belong to this parish and I saw it for the first time after the renovation last night. It STILL looks beautiful and aside from some relatively minor adjustments, everything is intact, including the high altar, reredos, and mosaics.
It's about 90 percent identical to what you see in the pictures above, except that the colors are lighter, with 80 plus years of dust and grime removed, and the chandeliers are all shiny gold instead of metallic black.
The only really obvious differences are: 1) the inclusion of a black marble baptismal font (big enough for immersions) in the middle of the nave; 2) the removal of the old communion rail and the expansion of the sanctuary by about 15 percent, mainly so that celebrants, servers, etc. at diocese-wide liturgies can move around easier; 3) two old confessional booths on the north side have been replaced to make room for the new St. Therese and St. Patrick shrines — but there are still two other confessional booths left on the south side plus the regular reconciliation rooms are still in place in back. Where St. Patrick used to be is now a shrine to Mary the Life Giving Spring, portrayed in a beautiful modern icon commissioned for the diocese's 150th anniversary in 2003.
Whatever "insanity" may have been contemplated seems to have been succesfully stopped in its tracks. The results may not please everyone but this is far from what I would consider a "wreckovation."
Elaine
December 9, 2009 at 1:02 am
Further update: I took a closer look tonight and noticed that parts of the communion rail ARE STILL THERE… along the sides of the sanctuary. The "gate" has been placed in front of Mary the Life Giving Spring. Hmmm, I wonder if someone convinced Bishop Lucas, et al. that it might be a good idea to save that rail just in case it might be needed again someday?
Elaine