The work of the Liturgy Committee to date, including consultation with parishioners, has resulted in the development of a renovation concept. This concept includes a number of matters we would like considered in plans for a renovated church. The first consideration for our renovation plans is:
The review of the assembly seating and the sanctuary, with the aim of gathering the assembly around the two tables of the word and the eucharist as much as possible
Those who have contributed to the conversation so far believe this is important because:
… For in the celebration of Mass, in which the Sacrifice of the Cross is perpetuated, Christ is really present in the very liturgical assembly gathered in his name, in the person of the minister, in his word, and indeed substantially and continuously under the Eucharistic species. (General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), 27)
The general ordering of the sacred building must be such that in some way it conveys the image of the gathered assembly and allows the appropriate ordering of all the participants, as well as facilitating them in the proper carrying out of their function… (GIRM, 294)
The Church is nourished spiritually at the table of God’s word and at the table of the eucharist: from the one it grows in wisdom and from the other in holiness. In the word of God the divine covenant is announced; in the eucharist the new and everlasting covenant is renewed… (Introduction to the Lectionary for Mass, 10)
… The altar, moreover, should be in the place where it is truly the centre toward which the attention of the whole congregation of the faithful naturally turns… (GIRM, 299)
… The dignity of the word of God requires that the church have a place that is suitable for the proclamation of the word and toward which the attention of the whole congregation of the faithful naturally turns during the Liturgy of the Word… (GIRM, 309)
Liturgy 