New Altar Arrives in Fairfield
Work progresses on converting gym into church
Tim Duff takes measurements of the altar in its old home at Sacred Heart Church, Akron
St. Anacletus, Pope and Martyr, July 13, 2010
Father Ramolla took advantage of his recent trip to Cleveland to visit Sacred Heart Church in Akron. This Novus Ordo church had recently closed, and was selling off its high altar, side altars and communion rail. Pictures had already been provided on this website and in the Sunday bulletin, as we sought to raise the funds to purchase these beautiful furnishings, so that we can start turning our humble gym into a fitting traditional Roman Catholic chapel. Thanks to the generosity of our parishioners and supporters from further afield, we were quickly able to close the deal with the Cleveland Diocese.
Metamorphosis of Music Room into a Weekday Chapel
The Sorrowful Mother Chapel
What used to be the Music Room of the former LaValle School is being quickly transformed into a weekday chapel. The drapes you see in the above photo were recently installed and now work will begin to put in place a semi-permanent altar where Mass will be said on weekdays. The chapel will be dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and hanging on the wall we have already installed seven stations representing each of these seven sorrows. You can see one of them on the right in the above photograph. We shall soon begin special devotions in honor of the Sorrowful Mother.
From Gym to Church
Three parishioners drove a 26 ft. Penske truck up to Akron on Monday, July 12, and with truly heroic perseverance were able to dismantle the altars and communion rail, and carry them out of the church where they loaded up the truck. Leaving from Monroe at 7:30 that morning, they did not get back to Fairfield until close to midnight. The altar is made mostly of solid plaster, and is very heavy, and the three of them were extremely grateful for the extra help they had on the following day. By lunchtime all the furnishings had been laid out in the gym, and this was no easy task. In order to get some of the bigger items indoors, it was necessary to remove the door frame at one point. In the picture above Chris Ritze and Andrew Johns are hard at work putting things back the way they were.
The Gym before the start of work
The back wall of what will be our church has been painted with three coats of deep blue. Parts of the high altar and one of the side altars can be seen in the above picture, which shows how nicely the altars will contrast with their background. It's still a bit messy, but there's a lot of hard work going on to make the church ready for Mass this Sunday!
The main part of the High Altar before it is re-assembled
The High Altar above needs quite a bit of work before Mass can properly be celebrated at it. The mensa or "table-top" of the altar needs to be replaced, and of course there are a lot of dirty fingerprints to wipe clean! The main work, however, will be to build a platform underneath the altar, raising it from the floor level, and allowing the priest to step up to it as is proper. This platform will be built at the same time as the altar is re-assembled back into one piece.
Other pieces of the High Altar are scattered all over the gym, waiting to be rejoined and made ready for the Holy Sacrifice. In the background the side walls of the gym are being painted by two trustees, Jim Gebel and Gerry Keaveney (he's at the top of the ladder), who have kindly donated their time and energies to prepare our new church.
The back of the Gym before work began
The back of the gym in the midst of its transformation. The door on the left leads to what used to be a small kitchen, and will soon be a cry room. It is also the door leading to the stairs down to the basement or undercroft, which may be used as a music and art room for our homeschoolers temporarily. Ultimately, of course, we plan to turn it into a complete rectory. Now that the boards have been torn down in the space overlooking the gym, you can see how suitable this will be as a choir loft. First we just have to figure out how to get up there!
Father is looking for volunteers of course to help out with the tremendous amount of work needed to turn our new home into what we need. Painters, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, all are useful, but none more so than the simple worker who can clean, tidy up, sort out books and games left over from our predecessor, and generally make themselves useful. No appointment is necessary, simply show up dressed for work!
