A Labor of Love

MADISON  On April 5, Bishop Serratelli blessed and consecrated the $5.340 million renovation of both the interior and exterior of St. Vincent Martyr Church here — an ambitious project that included the reconfiguration of the worship space to enhance the worship of the faith community. The Bishop called the 112-year-old stone Gothic Revival church “truly a house of God, where he lives and dwells and works among us in Christ.”

Steeped in the rites and traditions of the Church, the Mass of Dedication included Bishop Serratelli’s consecration of a new altar and walls of the renovated worship space of St. Vincent’s, which was filled to capacity and beyond for the Mass. Attending were parish clergy and staff; township officials; personnel who designed worked on the project; benefactors; parishioners; and visiting clergy, including Bishop Emeritus Rodimer, who concelebrated the liturgy. After considerable prayer, discernment and planning, St. Vincent’s broke ground on the renovations last May 1 and completed them by the deadline of April 1 this year.

“At the heart of this labor of love are the men and women of St. Vincent Martyr, who gave so generously of their time and talent. Their prayers and generous contributions and pledges not only have build up this church, but also the Church of Paterson,” said an overjoyed Msgr. George Hundt, St. Vincent’s pastor, who oversaw the renovations and also was a concelebrant of the Mass of Dedication on the evening of April 5. He also thanked diocesan officials, who assisted, and those who designed and carried out the project. “This renovation is truly the work of our people — building up the Church on the foundation of the Gospels with Jesus as our cornerstone. Inspired by the towering architecture of this structure, we lift up our hearts and souls in worship to our merciful and loving God,” he said.

The renovation — the sixth in the church’s history — required the gutting of the church interior and called for the repositioning of the altar from its previous location “in the round” at the center to its current position at the rear wall of the church. This design required the removal of some seating at the back and the doors that led to the rear parking lot. Also, a reredos, or high altar, that was r from a Vincentian church in Brooklyn, was installed. Also replaced were the altar table, baptismal font, ambo and the tabernacle, which was re-positioned behind the altar, said Jan Figenshu, St. Vincent’s pastoral associate.

The project also called for pews to replace some of the chairs in the 475-seat worship space and to be placed at an angle, “so that people can see each other,” which promotes a “greater sense of gathering.” The church did not lose any seating, Figenshu said.

The repainted interior also includes a new entrance into the front of the church, which houses a vesting room for clergy; new spaces for the music ministry and Children’s Liturgy of the Word; and improved air conditioning, lighting and sound. Now more handicapped-accessible, the church features a lift and handicapped-accessible restrooms inside and grading on the property, Figenshu said.

Also outside, the renovations created a gathering area in the front of the church and a welcoming area at the rear. One side of the building features the new Shrine of the Good Shepherd, which displays images of saints in colorful titles and includes a bench for reflection, Figenshu said.

“The new configuration [of the church’s interior] with this renovation will lead to enhanced worship of the community as a whole,” Msgr. Hundt told The Beacon after the project’s groundbreaking last year.

During the Mass of Dedication, Bishop Serratelli blessed the altar, ambo and baptismal font with holy water. He placed a relic of St. Vincent the Martyr into the altar, before anointing it with sacred Chrism. Then, the Bishop anointed the walls of the church and censed the presider’s chair and altar, before ministers walked through the church, censing the people and the walls. After Communion, Bishop Serratelli inaugurated the church’s tabernacle by censing it and offering a silent prayer.

Also concelebrating the Mass were Father Przemyslaw Gawlik, one of St. Vincent’s parochial vicars; Msgr. James Mahoney, pastor of Corpus Christi Parish, Chatham Township, and diocesan vicar general; and Father Robert Mitchell, pastor of St. Patrick Parish, Chatham, chair of deans in the diocese and dean of the Southwest Morris Deanery, along with other visiting priests.

“Today we consecrate this beautifully renovated church for the mystery of the Cross, where the death and Resurrection of Jesus touches our lives,” Bishop Serratelli said in his homily. “God takes us and transforms us into his people. He literally makes us living stones of the new temple — the mystery that we celebrate in this sacred space. The Holy Spirit empowers us to translate that to every place we go,” he said.

The ambitious church renovation grew out St. Vincent’s ongoing “Envision: Planning Our Parish Future,” a comprehensive, results-driven planning process that already has inspired the parish to expand further its reach in spreading the “Good News” of the Gospel. The parish’s recent capital projects also included a $2 million, two-story addition to its school that opened at the beginning of the current academic year and that Bishop Serratelli dedicated in February. The addition provides six more classrooms for a student population that has grown fourfold in recent years since the re-establishment of its middle-school grades.

The most recent renovation project makes improvements to the current church, which was built in 1905 as the third church of the parish, which this year marks 178 years since its founding. Jeremiah O’Rourke, who designed the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, designed St. Vincent’s current church, according to the parish history.

“The renovations of the church combine a connected sense of community with a transcendental experience. It will allow for more movement [of Mass participants] on the altar. Also, Catholic symbols will be more visible to people throughout the church,” said Figenshu, after the groundbreaking.

After the dedication of the church on April 5, Debbie Woolridge, a St. Vincent’s parishioner, called the improvements “beautiful and impressive.”

“Every detail is accounted for. Everything is symbolic” — including religious items that have been carried over from the previous church buildings that were newly discovered, Woolridge said.