Feb. 4, 2018, ET Catholic, A section

February 4

| 2018

VOL 27 NO 3

IN THIS ISSUE

A2 BECOMING CATHEDRALS

CONVERSATION B1 BREAKING A4 AWITH GROUND CARDINALS Cathedral to host witnesses to history

Bishop Stika reflects on God's design for us

Celebrations continued on page A12

We are building the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus for the glory of God – Bishop Stika

By Bill Brewer

B

ishop Richard F. Stika is finding it hard to curb his excitement with less than 30 days before the eagerly awaited dedication of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on March 3.

The flurry of activity that is constant around the cathedral beckons him twice daily as he gives regular updates about construction progress on social media.

And as workers complete the final phase of the three-year construction project, Bishop Stika and cathedral rector Father David Boettner are making preparations to unveil the Diocese of Knoxville’s new mother church.

For them, though, the project has been going on much longer.

“I have been involved in this along with Father David and so many others for five years now. It started with concept, then blueprints, and construction.

I’ve been going to the cathedral every day, a couple of times a day, and just to see it grow from the groundbreaking to now is very exciting,” Bishop Stika said.

In addition to his twice-daily pilgrimages, the bishop has been able to watch the cathedral rise above the Sacred Heart ground from his Chancery office. The cathedral now towers over his office and the Bearden area of West Knoxville. At times, it even can be seen from Interstate 40/75.

As he points to the some 60,000 vehicles that travel along Northshore Drive daily, passing in front of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Bishop Stika realizes most if not all of those drivers over the past three

STEPHANIE RICHER

n Sunday, Feb. 25, 4 p.m. — final vespers service at the original Sacred Heart Cathedral and a solemn procession of transferred relics and the dedication stone to the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; open to the public; n Friday, March 2, 7 p.m. — vigil with the relics service in the new cathedral; open to the public; n Saturday, March 3, noon — Dedication Mass for the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, tickets required, doors open to ticketed guests at 10:30 a.m.; n Saturday, March 3, 5 p.m. — vigil Mass celebrated in the new cathedral by cathedral priests; open to the public; n Sunday, March 4, regularly scheduled Masses begin in the new cathedral at 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m. Mass celebrated by Bishop Richard F. Stika, and 1 p.m. Mass in Spanish celebrated by papal nuncio Archbishop Christophe Pierre; n Sunday, March 4, 3 p.m. — Mass for the Polish community celebrated

by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz in the new cathedral; n Sunday, March 4, 7 p.m. — Conversation with the Cardinals in the new cathedral; open to the public; n Monday, March 19, 7 p.m. — blessing of the St. Joseph altar; n Tuesday, March 27, 7 p.m. — Chrism Mass; n Saturday, March 31, dusk — Easter Vigil; n Monday, April 9, 7 p.m. — blessing of the Blessed

‘It’s all about Jesus’

Ready to dedicate Bishop Richard F. Stika stands next to the tabernacle for the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Bishop Stika will be the principal celebrant for the Dedication Mass on March 3. years have been curious as to what has been growing out of the ground.

“Soon they will see a finished product, and they will hear the bells ring-

ing again. And there will be a certain sense of ‘welcome to the mother church of the Diocese of Knoxville,’” Cathedral continued on page A7

Cathedral 101: Domus Dei is a study in Church history

What you should know about the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

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cathedral is more than a massive building, although it is that. It is more than a gathering spot, although it is that as well.

A cathedral is the heart of a religious community. It is the seat of the bishop, an heir to the Apostles. It is a spiritual home where families celebrate baptisms, first communions, confirmations, quinceañeras, marriages, and funerals.

It is a sacred space, where we gather with one another and with the communion of saints to give glory to God. The architecture and art of the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is designed to help us achieve that goal. The cathedral educates us in our faith, guides us in our spiritual journey, and offers a transcendent refuge from worldly distraction.

Every detail in the cathedral is meant to inspire the worshipers who enter this holy space. Each piece of

By Emily Booker

Sacred space Father David Boettner, rector of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, looks forward to celebrating Mass where past and present join to shape the future. The cathedral, which will be dedicated by Bishop Richard F. Stika on March 3, gives reverence to the history of the Church as it provides sacred worship space for the diocese for generations to come.

JIM WOGAN

Schedule of celebrations for Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Erwin mission begins church construction

He dwells among us ......................... A2 Parish news ....................................... B3 Diocesan calendar ............................ B5 Columns ............................................. B7 Catholic youth ................................. B10 La Cosecha ............................Section C

art is a visible expression of the truth of reality, meant to turn viewers’ minds toward God. The cathedral layout is a cruciform style, resembling that of a cross when viewed from above. Transepts, or the arms of the cross, contain side chapels. The crossing is under the large dome, which is decorated with images of the Holy Family,

Apostles, and saints.

“I wanted to make sure when we built the cathedral somebody couldn’t pinpoint when it was built, the decade. Because sometimes architecture reflects certain decades,” Bishop Richard F. Stika said. “I think our cathedral will be timeless. It’s traditional. Its focus is on the altar and the tabernacle.”

Domus Dei, House of God

The altar of sacrifice is the central focus of the cathedral, as it is where the Mass is offered. It is 11 feet long and made of Michelangelo Statuario marble, named such because it comes from the same quarry used for Michelangelo’s Pieta. Three mosaic medallions adorn Domus Dei continued on page A11

He dwells among us

by Bishop Richard F. Stika

Becoming cathedrals of God Cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He builds you into a beautiful sacred dwelling of his love I rejoiced when they said to me, “Let us go to the House of the Lord.”And now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. — Psalm 122: 1-2

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fter many years of planning and 1,077 days of construction since our groundbreaking in 2015, the words of this psalm will finally be sung within our new cathedral as our procession passes through its doors on March 3 for the Mass of Dedication.

But it is not just a structure of brick and mortar that we will celebrate that day, but that of each soul. For each of us is a sacred architectural structure and a lifelong building project. As St. Paul counsels us, we are “God’s building…. Each one must be careful how he builds upon it” (1 Corinthians 9:9, 10).

An 11th century theologian, Hugh of St. Victor, taught that the aim of the Christian life is to build up a beautiful dwelling place for the presence of God. Reflecting on the dedication rite of a church, he says, “A house to be dedicated is a soul to be sanctified.”

He even describes the dedication rite in terms of it being almost like a church’s baptism. But with its dedication, as with our own baptism, the work of making it more and more beautiful does not cease on that day.

As a cathedral church typically requires about 70 to 80 years beyond its dedication to fully adorn and beautify, so, too, we must labor a lifetime to beautify and adorn our soul as God’s sacred dwelling.

In a spiritual sense, we should

Follow Bishop Richard Stika on Twitter @bishopstika, on Facebook, and on Relevant Radio for news and events from the Diocese of Knoxville. all strive to be a mirror image of a beautiful cathedral. Until Jesus looks at us and sees himself fully reflected back — his divine likeness in us — we have work to do. The more beautiful our soul is built up and adorned as God’s temple, the more fully we become who He created us to be.

Can any of us honestly say that the work of God in our heart and soul is complete with nothing left to work on? Think of how much care and attention we give daily to our body, adorning it so as to give a pleasing outward appearance. Should the coarse exterior of a cathedral be more beautiful than its interior? Of course not. And nor should our body’s adornment be more important than the interior temple of our communion with God. Think of God as the Sacred Architect and General Contractor of the building project of our soul. He’s also the Construction Foreman with a whole team of specialized workers and subcontractors — the saints and angels. And not only that, but with His Blood, Christ purchased all the building materials that are needed for our sanctification — to be saints!

Nothing is lacking to help make our sacred temple more beautiful than the most magnificent cathedral in the world. But God will not work in our heart and soul without our desire and consent, as well as our daily cooperation. Our “yes” to God is

May this penitential season of Lent be a special time of grace and progress as you cooperate in God’s great construction project to build you up into a magnificent and beautiful cathedral dwelling of His love.

— Bishop Richard F. Stika needed every day for His “work orders” to proceed. Otherwise, the work project of our soul encounters delays and over time, these can cause our sacred structure to fall into disrepair and even ruin.

The Lenten season is a time for us to especially reflect upon the condition of our heart as God’s dwelling place and the work of building it up into a beautiful cathedral. What the psalmist says of the Temple of Jerusalem should be even more truly said of our own soul — “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, God of Hosts!” (Psalm 84:1).

And the stern words of Jesus that are inscribed on our cathedral’s cornerstone are a reminder to us of what our heart should above all be — “My house shall be called a house of prayer…”

(Matthew 21:13).

With every great endeavor, there is preparation. The sacrament of confession and the daily examination of conscience is a wonderful way to help clean the worksite of our soul of all the debris that impedes God’s good

work within us. Our prayers, fasting, and other mortifications, like work stands and scaffolding, give God’s grace elevated platforms to further His work’s reach within us.

By reflecting upon Christ’s passion and cross, his sufferings for love for us, we give image and prominence to an interior crucifix within our heart’s sanctuary and adorn our cathedral’s walls with the Stations of the Cross.

By reflecting upon Christ’s sacrificial offering on Calvary and upon the Eucharist, we give ornate form to a marbled altar within our heart, where we offer our own sacrifices and sufferings with those of Christ’s to the Eternal Father for the love of souls.

By reading and reflecting daily upon sacred Scripture, we build up our heart’s ambo, giving it an elevated place so that the Word of God and the Holy Name of Jesus echo continuously and can be heard in the farthest recesses of our heart.

With our prayers and desires to draw closer to God and the mysteries of our faith, we decorate our cathedral in beautiful mosaic images and perfume it with the sweetest incense.

And by calling upon Jesus, and longing for Him as Our Bridegroom, we gild in finest gold His tabernacle within us where His Holy Name dwells.

May this penitential season of Lent be a special time of grace and progress as you cooperate in God’s great construction project to build you up into a magnificent and beautiful cathedral dwelling of His love. ■

Bishop Stika’s calendar of events for the next month February Prayer Intentions “That those who have material, political or spiritual power may resist any lure of corruption.”

–– Pope Francis ”We pray for a blessing on all those who have contributed to the construction of the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, either through prayer, hard work, or financial support, and that the cathedral may always offer a place where people discover Jesus.”

–– Bishop Stika

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n Feb. 1: 5:30 p.m. (CST), Vespers with Bishop J. Mark Spalding in Nashville n Feb. 2: 9:45 a.m., Relevant Radio show n Feb. 2: 2 p.m. (CST), Ordination and Installation Mass of Bishop J. Mark Spalding, JCL, at Catholic Pastoral Center in Nashville n Feb. 3: 5 p.m., Mass in celebration of the Consecrated Religious at Sacred Heart Cathedral n Feb. 5-7: Gatlinburg Study Days with Diocese of Knoxville presbyterate n Feb. 8: 6:15 p.m., Knights of Columbus annual Clergy and Religious Appreciation Dinner at St. John Neumann Church n Feb. 10: 11 a.m., diocesan reaffirmation of marriage

www.di o k no x .o rg

vows at Immaculate Conception Church in Knoxville n Feb. 13: 11 a.m., Presbyteral Council meeting at the Chancery n Feb. 14: Ash Wednesday n Feb. 17: 1 p.m., Rite of Election for Chattanooga and Five Rivers deaneries at Sacred Heart Cathedral n Feb. 18: 4 p.m., Rite of Election for Cumberland Mountain and Smoky Mountain deaneries at Sacred Heart Cathedral n Feb. 20-21: Province meeting in Louisville n Feb. 24: 9 a.m., Mass for women’s retreat at All Saints Church in Knoxville n Feb. 25: final vespers in current cathedral and transfer of relics n March 2: 9:45 a.m., Rel-

evant Radio show n March 2: 7 p.m., Vespers with Relics in the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus n March 3: noon, Dedication Mass for the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus n March 4: 3 p.m., Mass for the Polish community with Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz in the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus n March 4: 7 p.m., Conversation with the Cardinals featuring Bishop Stika, Cardinal Justin Rigali, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Cardinal William Levada, and Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Christophe Pierre at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ■

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FEBRUARY 4, 2018 n A3

St. John Paul II will be focus of Conversation with the Cardinals New cathedral to host prelates who worked closely with beloved pope, who established our diocese

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

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ishop Richard F. Stika is reconvening a team of princes of the Church for the next Conversation with the Cardinals, which will be held on Sunday, March 4, at 7 p.m. in the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Bishop Stika said there is no better location for the program than the cathedral since the discussion will focus on Pope St. John Paul II, who created the Diocese of Knoxville in 1988.

Bishop Stika will emcee the program that will feature Cardinal Justin Rigali, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, and Cardinal William Levada.

The Conversation with the Cardinals is free and open to the public.

The three prelates worked with Pope John Paul II and witnessed his papacy firsthand as he captured the world’s attention by spreading the Gospel.

Cardinal Dziwisz served as the pope’s personal secretary from the time the pontiff was known as Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyla through his death in April 2005.

Like Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Dziwisz is from Poland.

Cardinal Dziwisz was present at the most exciting and critical times of Pope John Paul II’s papacy, including the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the pope’s historic travels throughout the world, his 14 papal encyclicals, and the assassination attempt by Mehmet Ali Agca.

In fact, when the pope was shot in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981, he slumped into the arms of Cardinal Dziwisz, which was cap-

Inside Pope St. John Paul II’s Vatican Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz will help recount the papacy of the historic pope on March 4.

Bishop Stika

Cardinal Rigali

tured in a now-famous photo.

Like Cardinal Dziwisz, Cardinal Rigali worked closely with Pope St. John Paul II, accompanying the pontiff on many of his international trips, serving in the Roman Curia in the Secretariat of State, as Secretary of the Congregation of Bishops and Secretary of the College of Cardinals. Pope John Paul II elevated Cardinal Rigali to archbishop and then to cardinal.

Cardinal Levada

Archbishop Pierre

Cardinal Levada was named by Pope John Paul II to serve as archbishop of Portland, Ore., from 1986-1995 and as archbishop of San Francisco from 1995-2005.

He then served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the Catholic Church’s chief theologian, under Pope Benedict XVI and was the highest-ranking American in the Roman Curia.

Also scheduled to take part in

By Bill Brewer the Conversation with the Cardinals is Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s diplomatic representative to the United States whose title is papal nuncio.

Archbishop Pierre will be attending the Dedication Mass for the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus as a representative of Pope Francis.

Bishop Stika launched the first Conversation with the Cardinal in September 2013 during the Eucharistic Congress. In that program, Bishop Stika and Cardinal Rigali engaged in a wide-ranging discussion about the Catholic Church, the Vatican, and Cardinal Rigali’s service in the College of Cardinals.

Cardinal Rigali’s appearance in the first Conversation with the Cardinal occurred six months after he participated in the papal conclave that elected Pope Francis.

The second Conversation with the Cardinals was held April 18, 2015, at the Tennessee Theatre in downtown Knoxville and featured Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, Cardinal Rigali, and Cardinal Levada, with Bishop Stika serving as emcee.

The next installment of the Conversation with the Cardinals is being held in conjunction with the dedication of the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

"The focus is going to be on Cardinal Dziwisz. For 90 minutes, we want to put into the hands of the people in attendance the papacy of Pope St. John Paul II through the eyes of Cardinal Dziwisz, which I think is a real blessing,” Bishop Stika said. ■

A cathedral: so much more than just a beautiful building These sacred spaces have been a part of Catholic faith since the dawn of Christianity

By Bishop Arthur Serratelli/Catholic News Agency

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hen Constantine legalized the Christian faith with the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D., the Church emerged from Rome’s subterranean cemeteries and moved into the city’s basilicas.

In these buildings, courts of justice were held as well as other public functions.

In the basilicas of imperial Rome, the apse, located at the farthest point opposite the main entrance, was the seat of authority. Here the magistrates would sit in judgment.

Here the emperor would be enthroned. Because of the importance of this space, the early Christians transformed the apse into the sacred space for the liturgy. Here the bishop, surrounded by his priests, would sit on a slightly elevated chair.

Christians began to decorate their new liturgical space with elaborate artistic themes borrowed from imperial Rome. In this period of transition from a persecuted Church to a legal religion, the simple representation of Jesus as a young shepherd gave way to a more stylized image of Jesus as teacher and ruler of the world. This can be seen in the fourth century basilica of Santa Pudenziana, one of the oldest places of Christian worship in Rome.

In the beautiful mosaic adorning the apse of Santa Pudenziana, Christ wears the purple-trimmed gold toga of the Roman emperor.

The shepherd has become the ruler of the world. He holds a book in his left hand. He extends his right hand, expounding his lesson in the fashion of a classical Roman teacher. On either side of him are the apostles to whom he is entrusting his teaching and authority for future generations.

Early Christians worshiping in this basilica would see in the mosaic above Christ seated on a jewelencrusted throne with his apostles surrounding him. Directly below him, they would see their bishop seated with priests beside him and his faithful before him. Instinctively, they understood. In the life of the Church, the bishop continues Christ’s mission. His seat or cathedra is the place of Christ’s own authority.

Thus, in Christian tradition, the

A4 n FEBRUARY 4, 2018

The body of the Church Cathedrals like the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus are rooted in history but are built to withstand time. cathedra symbolizes the bishop’s role as the teacher to whom Christ entrusts a particular church to sanctify and govern.

In every diocese, there is one church designated as the cathedral.

In a prominent place in the apse or sanctuary of this church stands the bishop’s seat or cathedra. This is what makes a particular church building a cathedral and the bishop’s church. Because of its theological significance, the cathedral is usually the most beautiful and historic of all the churches in a diocese. In fact, the presence of the bishop’s cathedra makes the cathedral itself a symbol of the theological role of the bishop for the local Church and a reminder to the faithful of the very nature of the Church herself.

Bishops are successors of the Apostles. The inspired author of the Book of Revelation describes that apostolic mission. He says that the New Jerusalem is built on 12 foundations “and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles” (Revelation 21:14). As the foundation supports a building and keeps the entire structure together, the bishops have the divine mandate to keep the church united in the faith that comes to us from the apostles.

“The individual bishops are the visible source and foundation of unity in their own particular Churches…it is in these and formed out of them that the one and unique Catholic Church exists,” according

to Lumen Gentium, 23.

As the Second Vatican Council teaches, the Church, in its deepest reality, is a communio. It is a sharing through grace in the life of the Father given us through Christ and in the Holy Spirit. And, the most visible, most important manifestation of the Church as communio is “the full, active participation of all God’s holy people in the same liturgical celebrations, especially in the same Eucharist, in one prayer, at one altar, at which the bishop presides, surrounded by his presbyterate and by his ministers” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 41).

And so each time the bishop, who is the high priest of his diocese, celebrates the liturgy in his cathedral with the priests and the faithful of the diocese, the very mystery of the Church is made visible.

Because of this theological richness of the cathedral, people over the centuries have consecrated their native soil with so many magnificent cathedrals. With much labor and many sacrifices, believers have built, maintained, and renovated Notre Dame in Paris, Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Hohe Domkirche St. Petrus in Cologne, Stephansdom in Vienna, and St. Patrick’s in New York, to name a few.

They understood, as we do today, that the cathedral is more than a beautiful church. It is the sacred place where God makes visible his Church as a hierarchical communio,

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as the Body of Christ, as the sign and sacrament of salvation for the world.

Let’s take a closer look at the origin of the cathedral.

While a cathedral is a church that contains the seat of a bishop and serves as the central church of the diocese, the word cathedral is derived from a Greek noun meaning cathedra, which translates as “seat” and refers to the presence of the bishop’s or archbishop’s chair.

Therefore, the word cathedral is the seat that marks the place in the prominent church of a diocese for the head of that diocese and is a major symbol of authority.

Although a cathedral may be among the grandest of churches in the diocese and even the country, especially in medieval and Renaissance eras, size and ornateness are not a requirement. A cathedral may be a modest structure, especially in modern times when functionality rather than grandeur may be a prevailing consideration.

Medieval cathedrals were built between 700-1600 C.E. by stonemasons, who acted as architects, builders, craftsmiths, designers, and engineers. Using only a set of compasses, a set-square, and a staff or rope marked off in halves, thirds, and fifths, these early general contractors were able to build remarkable structures.

As the construction of cathedrals, like the technology used to build them, has evolved, they typically retain their historic characteristics.

Cathedrals have either been founded and built as such, or were originally parish or monastic churches that were elevated to cathedral status, such as the original Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Diocese of Knoxville.

The history of cathedral architecture begins around the year 313 C.E. when Byzantine emperor Constantine I publicly converted to Christianity and legitimized Christianity as a formal religion. The Christian church as we know it was formally organized.

Although there were impressive buildings long before, calling these structures cathedrals would be Sacred continued on page A15 TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C A TH OLI C

Working on the cathedral has been a labor of love for many Clancy Custom Woodworking adds local craftsmanship to the Diocese of Knoxville’s new mother church

By Bill Brewer

JIM WOGAN

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Cathedral workshop Art Clancy III and the crew of Clancy Custom Woodworking constructed many interior parts of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, crafting custom-made pieces of trim, molding, and other elements from their Knoxville shop. The crew set up shop inside the cathedral for weeks to complete its work.

JIM WOGAN

rt Clancy III envisioned the Diocese of Knoxville’s new cathedral “a million times” before his company ever installed the first wood trim or molding.

That’s because the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus has been on his mind for more than a decade.

The founder and owner of Clancy Custom Woodworking in Knoxville said he has had designs on being part of a cathedral construction project since before Bishop Richard F. Stika was ordained and installed as the Diocese of Knoxville’s third bishop on March 19, 2009.

A new cathedral for the diocese that would replace the current Sacred Heart Cathedral has been discussed since the earliest days of the diocese. And Bishop Stika has said one of his earliest conversations after arriving in the Diocese of Knoxville was about the possibility of building a dedicated cathedral.

“When the bishop first got here, I asked him ‘when you build a cathedral, please think of me.’ And he said, ‘oh, I will.’ While I was doing some work on his home when he first arrived, and then I built the altar and the pews in the chapel of his present residence, we continued to talk about it,” Mr. Clancy said.

“He’s been very friendly to me. I think the world of him, and I really enjoy talking to him. He let me know when the diocese was planning the cathedral, and he said, ‘We want you all to have some part of it.’ And I said, ‘That would be great.

Any part we would be happy to have.’”

Bishop Stika followed through with his pledge to give Clancy Custom Woodworking serious consideration on specialized carpentry work for the cathedral. And as plans for the cathedral advanced, Clancy Custom Woodworking was asked to bid on part of the project.

But the company still had to show it could handle the work. And refer-

A closer look Art Clancy III reviews his work for the new cathedral with Father David Boettner and Mary Mac Wilson. ences would prove invaluable.

Coincidentally, Knoxville-based general contractor Merit Construc-

tion had been building Pigeon Forge’s LeConte Convention Center, which opened in October 2013,

and had engaged Clancy to do the custom carpentry on that project.

During that time period, Merit also was awarded the bid as general contractor for the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, on which construction began in spring 2015.

Mr. Clancy’s interest in working again with Merit and the company’s project manager and project superintendent Wes Crow and Fred Atkins piqued. “When I heard they were working on it I knew I had a shot at getting some of it. Father David (Boettner, Sacred Heart Cathedral rector) and I had talked about it,” Mr. Clancy noted.

“There aren’t a lot of companies that can do this kind of job. It’s not residential trim. It’s a whole differClancy continued on page A9

Why do Catholics venerate relics?

The roots of this faith-based tradition predate Jesus Christ

By Mary Rezac/CNA-EWTN News

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e are many parts, but we are all one body,” says the refrain of a popular 1980s Church hymn, based on the words of 1 Corinthians 12:12.

While we are one body in Christ, if you happen to be a Catholic saint, the many parts of your own body might be spread out all over the world.

Take, for example, St. Catherine of Siena.

A young and renowned thirdorder Dominican during the Middle Ages, she led an intense life of prayer and penance and is said to have single-handedly ended the Avignon exile of the successors of Peter in the 14th century.

When she died in Rome, her hometown of Siena, Italy, wanted her body.

Realizing they would probably get caught if they took her whole corpse, the Siena thieves decided that it would be safer if they just took her head.

When they were stopped on their way out by guards outside of Rome, they said a quick prayer, asking for St. Catherine of Siena’s intercession.

The guards opened the bag and did not find the dead head of St. Catherine, but a bag full of rose petals.

Once the thieves were back in Siena, Catherine’s head re-materialized, one of the many miracles attributed to the saint.

The head of St. Catherine of Siena was placed in a reliquary in the Basilica of St. Dominic in Siena, where it can still be venerated today, along with her thumb. Her body remains in Rome, her foot is venerated in Venice.

From the Shroud of Turin, or the finger of St. Thomas, to the miraculous blood of St. Januarius, or the brain of St. John Bosco, the Catholic Church keeps and venerates many curious but nevertheless holy artifacts, known as relics, from Jesus and the saints.

TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C A T HO L I C

To the outsider, the tradition of venerating relics (particularly of the corporeal persuasion) may seem like an outlandishly morbid practice.

But the roots of the tradition pre-date Jesus, and the practice is based in Scripture and centuries of Church teaching.

While it’s one of the most fascinating traditions of the Church, it can also be one of the most misunderstood.

Father Carlos Martins, CC, is a Custos Reliquarium, which is an ecclesiastically appointed Curate of Relics with the authority to issue relics.

He is a member of Companions of the Cross and the head of Treasures of the Church, a ministry that aims to give people an experience of the living God through an encounter with the relics of his saints in the form of an exposition. The ministry brings expositions of various relics throughout North America by invitation.

In the following interview with Catholic News Agency, Father Martins answers questions and dispels some common misunderstandings about the tradition of relics.

Q: First of all, what is a relic?

A: Relics are physical objects that have a direct association with the saints or with Our Lord. They are usually broken down into three classes: n First-class relics are the body or fragments of the body of a saint, such as pieces of bone or flesh. n Second-class relics are something that a saint personally owned, such as a shirt or book (or fragments of those items). n Third-class relics are those items that a saint touched or that have been touched to a first-, second-, or another third-class relic of a saint.

The word relic means “a fragment” or “remnant of a thing that once was but now is no longer.” Thus, we find in antique shops “Civil War relics”

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Sacred Heart Cathedral is where construction, art intersect Hard hats, scaffolding, tight spaces all in a days work for EverGreene Architectural artisans on a mission

By Bill Brewer

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or “Relics of the French Revolution.”

Obviously, we are not talking about these kinds of relics but rather sacred relics.

Q: Where did the Catholic tradition of venerating saints’ relics come from?

A: Scripture teaches that God acts through relics, especially in terms of healing. In fact, when surveying what Scripture has to say about sacred relics, one is left with the idea that healing is what relics “do.”

When the corpse of a man was touched to the bones of the prophet Elisha, the man came back to life and rose to his feet (2 Kings 13:20-21).

A woman was healed of her hemorrhage simply by touching the hem of Jesus’ cloak (Matthew 9:20-22).

The signs and wonders worked by the Apostles were so great that people would line the streets with the sick so that when Peter walked by at least his shadow might “touch” them (Acts 5:12-15).

When handkerchiefs or aprons that had been touched to Paul were applied to the sick, the people were healed and evil spirits were driven out of them (Acts 19:11-12).

In each of these instances God has brought about a healing using a material object. The vehicle for the healing was the touching of that object. It is very important to note, however, that the cause of the healing is God; the relics are a means through which He acts. In other words, relics are not magic. They do not contain a power that is their own; a power separate from God. Any good that comes about through a relic is God’s doing. But the fact that God chooses to use the relics of saints to work healing and miracles tells us that He wants to draw our attention to the saints as “models and intercessors” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 828).

Q: When did the veneration of relics begin?

A: It was present from the earliest days of Christianity, during the Apostolic age itself. The following is A6 n FEBRUARY 4, 2018

JIM WOGAN

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The Sacred Heart A worker prepares an area on scaffolding inside the dome of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus surrounded by the frescoes that adorn the cathedral. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the centerpiece of the dome paintings. world and have an effect akin to seeing the Sistine Chapel.

As work on the cathedral has progressed and some parishioners have been able to get an early peek inside, it is common to see them with necks craned skyward, gazing at the artistry. Awe is a frequent response.

That sense of awe and inspiration are appropriate responses to many areas of cathedral construction, from the stone and tile work, the hand-crafted altar, baldacchino, cathedra, Stations of the Cross, and wood accents, to the side altars, dome, and cupola. Every phase of cathedral construction has required excellence to the point of artistry.

While EverGreene Architectural EverGreene continued on page A14

an account written by the Church in Smyrna (modern day Izmir, Turkey) when its bishop, St. Polycarp, was burned alive: “We adore Christ, because He is the Son of God, but the martyrs we love as disciples and imitators of the Lord. So we buried in a becoming place Polycarp’s remains, which are more precious to us than the costliest diamonds, and which we esteem more highly than gold.” (Acts of St. Polycarp, composed approximately 156 AD) Polycarp was a significant figure.

He was converted by John the Apostle, who had baptized him and subsequently ordained him a bishop. Thus we see that from its outset the Church practiced devotion to the remains of the martyrs.

Q: What is the spiritual significance of relics?

A: I think that St. Jerome put it best when he said: “We do not worship relics, we do not adore them, for fear that we should bow down to the creature rather than to the creator. But we venerate the relics of the martyrs in order the better to adore him whose martyrs they are.” (Ad Riparium, i, P.L., XXII, 907).

We venerate relics only for the sake of worshiping God. When we collect relics from the body of a saint, what part of the body do we use?

Any part of the saint’s body is sacred and can be placed in a reliquary.

Any and every bone may be used. In addition, flesh, hair, and sometimes blood, are also used. Sometimes everything from the tomb is dispersed from it. Sometimes a tomb is preserved.

Q: At what point in the canonization process are items or body parts considered official relics by the Church?

A: Before the beatification takes place, there is a formal rite whereby the relics are identified and moved (the official word is “translated”) into a church, a chapel, or an oratory. Put Relics continued on page A16

JIM WOGAN

hen the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus begins filling with worshipers next month, people attending Mass, adoration, confession, or any of a number of sacred events coming up will enjoy many “wow” moments as they observe the cathedral’s beauty.

One of those moments will be when they first glimpse the paintings on the ceiling of the dome above the baldacchino and altar.

These frescoes that depict 16 saints, the Apostles, the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, and Jesus were painted by artists with EverGreene Architectural Arts, which has clients around the world for whom the company has done murals and other artwork; stone, metal, and wood installation; decorative finishing; commercial and traditional painting; plasterwork; and gilding, as well as conservation and restoration work.

The New York construction arts studio is known as a top source of interior and exterior artwork projects from design through installation. The studio’s murals, mosaics, sculptures, art glass, and other artwork adorn churches, museums, government buildings, theaters, hotels, restaurants, and private homes.

As unique as it is to see EverGreene artisans working on a construction project, the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus isn’t the only project the company has undertaken in Knoxville. In 2004, EverGreene was selected to work on the Tennessee Theatre restoration. EverGreene craftsmen cleaned, repaired, and repainted the architectural surfaces in the historic Gay Street performance venue.

That same expertise was on display at Sacred Heart for several months last year. The cathedral paintings are reminiscent of famous church ceilings around the

Hard hats and palettes Suspended by a scaffold high above the cathedral floor, an EverGreene artist touches up one of the frescoes on the ceiling of the cathedral dome.

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STEPHANIE RICHER

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he said.

With its high-visibility and media coverage surrounding its construction, the cathedral has been a hot topic of discussion around the diocese.

Now that the cathedral is at the threshold of opening for Masses and other sacred services, Bishop Stika is contemplative about its significance.

“I say this over and over: we do together what we can’t do by ourselves. This is a physical manifestation of that. This cathedral will be something that will endure for generations and generations to come. It’s the mother church. It’s where we will welcome Catholics and people of other faith traditions to join us in prayer and culture. It will be a great tool for evangelization,” he observed.

“It’s also good for Sacred Heart Parish because the parish has outgrown its facilities. It’s the secondlargest parish next to All Saints.

It’s a dynamic parish that has great leadership. This is continuing to look into the future as our diocese celebrates 30 years in existence,” he added.

Although the cathedral is not yet open, Bishop Stika said it already is having an impact in the community. When he travels throughout the diocese he hears comments from Catholics and non-Catholics alike and also from ministers of other faith traditions who are excited about East Tennessee’s newest sacred house of worship.

The ministers see this as a component of reaffirming faith in East Tennessee, according to Bishop Stika.

The bishop recently gave an impromptu tour of the new cathedral to five priests from Baton Rouge, La., who were staying in Gatlinburg. They had heard about the cathedral project and asked to see it.

He also is hearing from other parts of the country about the project, which may be the last newly constructed cathedral in the United States for a while.

The Diocese of Raleigh last summer dedicated its new cathedral, and Cardinal Justin Rigali was among the prelates attending its Dedication Mass. Bishop Stika noted that Raleigh went from having the smallest cathedral in the country to now having the fifth largest when its Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral was dedicated in July.

And he noted that the Archdiocese of Boston is renovating its Cathedral of the Holy Cross and the Archdiocese of New York recently completed renovation of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

But the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus may be it for a while.

“It’s probably going to be the last cathedral built in the U.S. from scratch for a long time. I think this cathedral is going to be perfect for our future,” the bishop said.

But as he embraces the present while looking ahead, Bishop Stika believes when you walk into a Catholic church, you should see the church in terms of history.

“I wanted to make sure when we built the cathedral somebody wouldn’t be able to pinpoint when it was built, what decade. Sometimes architecture reflects certain decades. I think our cathedral will be timeless. It’s traditional. Its focus is on the altar and the tabernacle. It’s flexible. We have the two side chapels that can be used for different things. It’s large enough for the needs of this diocese and even into the future,” he noted.

To that end, when people enter the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, they will see sacred worship space rich in heritage, from the traditional cruciform-style architecture to the interior and exterior accents like stone pillars, marble columns and marble floor tile, handcrafted wood baldacchino, cathedra, chancel rail, confessionals, Stations of the Cross, sculpted column capitals, and the architrave inscripted with the litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

A pre-dedication preview Bishop Stika stands at the altar where he will celebrate Mass once the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is dedicated on March 3. Bishop Stika has been visiting the cathedral construction site daily since the project began in 2015 and eagerly awaits completion.

”It really is humbling, in a good sense, because I see what we’ve accomplished when we work together, and we do things that we can’t do by ourselves – also, to be part of history and know that this cathedral, God willing, will stand for hundreds of years and give testimony to the faith of a small Catholic community that continues to grow in East Tennessee. It’s all about God.” –– Bishop Stika

It will be a worship experience that almost overwhelms the senses, one that most people have not experienced. But it’s one that Bishop Stika very much wants all Diocese of Knoxville parishioners to have, hopefully frequently.

He said as he drives toward the cathedral, it looks impressive as it comes into view. “That is what is so awe-inspiring to me.”

“The Scriptures say to not hide your faith. This is one way the Catholic Church is saying this is who we are as Catholics. This is all about Jesus,” he said.

To that end, Bishop Stika noted a long list of special services surrounding the cathedral Dedication Mass, beginning with a prayer service that will mark the permanent closing of the original Sacred Heart Cathedral.

As solemn as that vespers service will be, anticipation will be building the week of Feb. 25 leading up to the March 3 dedication. On March 2, a vigil with the relics will be the first service in the new cathedral and is open to the public.

The Dedication Mass the next day promises to be one of the most unique worship experiences in the Catholic Church. The three-hour service requires a ticket to attend.

Bishops from around the country will be part of the Dedication Mass as will a number of cardinals, including Cardinal Rigali, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, and Cardinal William Levada.

Bishop Stika explained that Cardinal Dziwisz was the longtime personal secretary to Pope St. John Paul II, who formed the Diocese of Knoxville in 1988. Cardinal Dziwisz also is the archbishop emeritus of Krakow, Poland.

Securing Cardinal Dziwisz for the Dedication Mass and related programs is a real coup for the diocese, according to Bishop Stika, who places the cardinal in the center of the line between Pope St. John Paul II and the Diocese of Knoxville.

“He is a man of history. The reason I invited him is because of his special connection to St. John Paul II, who created our diocese.

This is as close as we can get to St. John Paul II. He is somebody who knew the pope so well. He was there when St. John Paul II was almost assassinated. He was there when St. John Paul II died. He was there when St. John Paul II visited the Philippines and Mexico, where he celebrated Mass for millions of people at each site,” Bishop Stika said.

Bishop Stika also noted that Cardinal Rigali and Cardinal Dziwisz worked closely together for Pope John Paul II for years and “have a great affection for each other.”

The bishop said Cardinal Dolan is a close friend of the Diocese

of Knoxville who attended the groundbreaking for the cathedral in April 2015. And like Cardinal Dolan, Cardinal Levada, prefect emeritus for the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, also was part of the cathedral groundbreaking ceremony.

Bishop Stika noted that Cardinal Levada succeeded Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Cardinal Levada served as the Church’s chief theologian in the high-ranking Vatican post from May 2005 to June 2012. He also is archbishop emeritus of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Cardinal DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston, is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Among the bishops attending will be Archbishop Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the United States; Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, who was the second bishop of Knoxville; Bishop James V. Johnston of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., who began his vocation as a Diocese of Knoxville priest and also served as diocesan chancellor; the Diocese of Nashville’s new shepherd, Bishop Mark Spalding; and the Diocese of Memphis’ new shepherd, Bishop Martin Holley.

The Dedication Mass will be live-streamed over the Internet, and global Catholic cable network EWTN will broadcast a recording of the Mass the following week.

Then at 5 p.m. on March 3, the cathedral will have its first parish Mass that is open to the public.

On Sunday, March 4, regularly scheduled parish Masses will begin, and at 3 p.m. Cardinal Dziwisz will celebrate Mass for the Polish community.

At 7 p.m. on March 4, Bishop Stika will emcee the Conversation with the Cardinals that will feature Cardinals Dziwisz, Rigali, and Levada, and Archbishop Pierre.

And that is just the beginning.

As regular Masses begin being held in the new cathedral, Sacred Heart Parish will soon be celebrating Easter Masses. And all diocesan confirmations will be held in the new cathedral this year.

Bishop Stika, who noted that members of other faith communities have been invited to the Dedication Mass, said plans are underway for ecumenical prayer services in the new cathedral. One in particular will be close to the bishop’s heart.

“We’re going to have a prayer service for all the workers and invite them to come back and thank them in a very public way,” he said. He got to know many of the workers on the construction project as he made his twice-daily visits to

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the work site. He has told them on more than one occasion how grateful he and the diocese are for their workmanship.

Plans also are being made to restore the traditional Corpus Christi processions and invite the Knights of Columbus to be part of that on the feast of Corpus Christi.

“We want to expand what we’ve been doing at the cathedral now that we have the sacred space to do it and open it up to some of the beautiful and rich traditions of the Catholic Church,” Bishop Stika said.

Also being discussed for the new cathedral are a series of concerts “to experience sacred music in sacred space,” he noted, and that could include hosting the Knoxville Opera and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra for a performance that would be held on the front steps of the cathedral.

Although long-awaited and years in the making, the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus will be in frequent use once it opens. A number of weddings already are scheduled in coming months.

The bishop said the beauty of the new cathedral, like the present one, is it never closes. It is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And the new cathedral will soon offer a 24-hour chapel for the Blessed Sacrament and perpetual adoration.

As the past, present, and future of Sacred Heart Cathedral converge the weekend of March 3, Bishop Stika is reflective of the Diocese of Knoxville as he approaches a decade of service here.

To the bishop, the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is a testament to what the diocese can accomplish when everyone works together.

“Our dreams are real. I’m a pragmatic person. But I also am an optimist. And this diocese is filled with optimism. Right after we dedicate the cathedral, I will complete nine years of service here and enter my 10th year. I just see all the marvelous things that have occurred here.

Archbishop Kurtz gives the same testimony. All these things that have been happening are exciting.

But it just shows that you can be a small community but have a large impact, not only on your own community but on the community that surrounds you,” he said.

As he prepares to celebrate his 10th Easter season in East Tennessee, Bishop Stika can’t hide his excitement at celebrating the most sacred of Christian seasons in the new mother church.

He’s also excited for people of the diocese who will worship in the mother church, whether at a regular Mass, a diocesan-wide celebration like the Chrism Mass, a wedding, a funeral, or any of the many special Masses that will be celebrated there.

But he’s most excited because the new cathedral celebrates Jesus and exalts God in a most special way.

“It’s a humbling experience to be the bishop of a diocese and to know that people are counting on you to be their shepherd. It’s an awe-inspiring thing. As I see this cathedral and the accomplishment of so many, it all comes down to giving glory to God to allow our worship, to know that God loves us and wanted to send us his Son, Jesus,” Bishop Stika said. “I’m only here for a season, and then there will be another bishop, and then another bishop. This has been an exciting time for me, whether it’s been the mobile medical clinic, or shoring up our finances, or starting new parishes, or new religious communities, now finally a cathedral.

“It really is humbling, in a good sense, because I see what we’ve accomplished when we work together, and we do things that we can’t do by ourselves — also to be part of history and know that this cathedral, God willing, will stand for hundreds of years and give testimony to the faith of a small Catholic community that continues to grow in East Tennessee. It’s all about God.” ■ FEBRUARY 4, 2018 n A7

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Measuring twice, cutting once Larry Beachy, right, and Art Clancy III of Clancy Custom Woodworking mill a radius piece for the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus at the company’s Knoxville shop.

TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C A T HO L I C

BILL BREWER

Since attending St. Joseph School and graduating from Knoxville Catholic High School in 1976, Mr. Clancy’s vocation has been in carpentry and the construction business. His son, Art Clancy IV, also works in the family business and is one of more than 50 people from Clancy Custom Woodworking who have been working on the cathedral project.

In the months and weeks leading up to the cathedral’s March 3 Dedication Mass, it has been all hands on deck for Clancy Custom Woodworking. Mr. Clancy explained that the many crafts working on the project side-by-side have had specific windows of time to begin and complete their work, with each construction discipline building on the one before it.

By the time Clancy Custom Woodworking completes its role, it will have installed approximately 216,000 lineal feet of molding, which translates to about 43,000 board feet of lumber. Add to that the thousands of other pieces the company has placed in the cathedral and Clancy’s woodworking efforts can be measured using an interstate — more than 40 miles.

The company’s work can be seen ground to ceiling, from the baseboards and wall cornices to window trim, the 160 ceiling coffers above the nave, and the trim inside the dome 144 feet above the cathedral floor. Mr. Clancy pointed out that just the coffered ceiling is more than 5,000 pieces specifically cut, with the thousands of pieces of wood fitting perfectly together because they had to be precisely mitered.

All molding from the cupola and dome to the cornice that goes around the top to the architrave, an inscription band that goes all the way around the cathedral that contains Scripture (excerpts from the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), window and door trim, sacristy cabinetry, coffered ceilings, side lectern with the chancel rail, cathedra, and altar chairs are Clancy work.

What won’t likely be seen are awkward creases, seams, exposed joints, or out-of-place edges. Mr. Clancy and his team have taken special pains to make their wood craftsmanship match the art and skill of the other artisans who have left their nearly perfect imprint on the cathedral.

The cathedral project is not just another job to Mr. Clancy; far from it.

“It is personal for me. This is a career-defining job. I don’t have any margin for error. And all my guys know this, too,” he acknowledged.

While the cathedral has required much of his attention, Mr. Clancy said his business also has been tend-

JIM WOGAN

BILL BREWER

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High-angle hardware A Clancy Custom Woodworking craftsman fits trim pieces into the cathedral dome.

ing to other projects, so his employees have stayed very busy in recent months.

“I still have had to hit other deadlines. But I carved out a spot for our part of this project. This is complicated work that takes time to do.

We have worked around the artistic painters and other crafts. But it has worked out,” he said, adding that his team also has worked around the clock for months to meet its deadline.

Now that construction work is coming to an end, Mr. Clancy has been imagining attending Mass in the new cathedral with his family and the emotions that will be pres- Bending it Larry Beachy and Russell Overbay engineer architectural wood pieces for the ent as he admires the sacred cathedral at Clancy Custom Woodworking. worship space.

He knows the fruits of the labor of the company he founded soon Clancy family and their involvement will be apparent to the faithful. in the Catholic community. And he “It’s been a challenge. Everyday was glad to have Clancy Custom there was something new that you Woodworking contribute to the cahad to deal with. That is what made thedral project. it interesting; but what an opportu “One of our goals was to use as nity this is,” he said. much local talent as we could in He’s looking forward to attending terms of the design and artwork.

Mass there with his parents, Sue and And Clancy has such a sterling repuArt Clancy II, his wife and son, Art tation. I would recommend them to Clancy IV, and his married daughanybody. Art has been there every ter, Jennifer Lawson, who attends day, and I’ve reminded him a few Notre Dame Church in Greeneville times of the importance of what he is with her young family. He also looks doing, not only with the woodwork, forward to observing firsthand the but he’s making the bishop’s chair — construction artistry in the diocese’s the cathedra. It pleases me so much new mother church, and he anticito see local folks involved in the pates how he’ll feel: joy (and relief), cathedral construction,” Bishop Stika thanksgiving, accomplishment, and said. pride in the workmanship.

Since his first introduction to “It will be similar to when I bring the idea of a new cathedral for the my grandchildren to Holy Ghost Diocese of Knoxville years ago, Mr. and tell them I built that altar and Clancy has added to the number of the confessionals. I like doing church trips, both imaginary and real, he’s work. The cathedral is a landmark. taken through the Cathedral of the It is a beautiful place. I’m already Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. proud of what we’ve done. It’s more Now he looks forward to walking than a job. It’s a labor of love,” he through the finished cathedral with said. the rest of those who will soon wor Bishop Stika is familiar with the ship inside it.

“I walked through that cathedral a million times in my mind before we ever put the first board up. I have been walking through that building in my mind for two-and-a-half years now. Since I got the first set of plans I have been planning and plotting different ways and methods to accomplish the molding scheme that the architect specified. It has been a real challenge, but seeing all of the tens of thousands of pieces and parts come together has been extremely gratifying...and exhausting,” he said.

“The cathedral is turning out to be every bit the way I imagined Cathedral carpenters From left, Oswaldo Cardenas, Art Clancy IV, and it. When it’s done it’s going to be Art Clancy III stack up some of the work they’ve done for the cathedral. breathtaking,” he noted. ■ w ww.di o k no x .o rg

BILL BREWER

ent animal. There’s a different mindset from the get-go. In Pigeon Forge, Wes took a chance on me. He asked if I could handle that project. I said I’m positive. He said this was one of those career-defining jobs, and I told him I wouldn’t take the job if I didn’t think I could handle it,” he said.

Clancy Custom Woodworking’s work for the Pigeon Forge convention center went well, and the veteran carpenter, who is part of a family of longtime East Tennessee Catholics, believes that project was instrumental in his company getting a contract to work on the cathedral.

Mr. Clancy said the primary architect on the project, James McCrery, who is based in Washington, D.C., thought the general contractor would need to bring crews from outside East Tennessee to do the cathedral molding and trim work because he didn’t know of anyone in the area who could do the job.

Merit then pointed to Clancy Custom Woodworking as a shop that could handle the project, so Father Boettner led a project team on a tour of Clancy’s woodworking facility in northwest Knoxville to ensure it could handle the scope of carpentry and intricacy required.

Mr. Clancy, who noted the team was satisfied the company could do the work following the shop tour, said he wanted to bid on all the woodworking elements of the cathedral project, including the baldacchino and the two reredos, large screen altarpieces behind the altar.

“I wanted everything and I bid it all. But they said they didn’t want to give it all to one person. They had a guy they wanted to do the baldacchino and the reredos. In retrospect that was fine. They split it up.”

He said he was informed that he received the bid on the molding and trim work in November 2016. Mountain View Millworks of Hedgesville, W.Va., received the bid for the baldacchino, the two reredos, podium, and the Stations of the Cross.

Mr. Clancy has developed a good working relationship with Mountain View Millworks owner David Tressler, and they have shared resources as they’ve worked together on the project.

Good working relationships have been a hallmark of the intense cathedral project and mark the project’s success.

“The cathedral is high-profile. A lot of the better craftsmen in Knoxville really wanted to be part of it,” Mr. Clancy pointed out, adding that carpentry on the cathedral is extremely intricate, just as with other crafts working on the project. He observed that everyone on his crew is a topnotch trim carpenter.

“The most talented craftsmen in East Tennessee have asked me if they can help me with this project. We are employing some of the best talent,” he noted.

The Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is probably the most detailed work Clancy Custom Woodworking has done on a building project, although the Pigeon Forge convention center had more components — a facility spread out over three acres under roof that consumed 250,000 lineal feet of trim.

“This (cathedral) is the most condensed. The logistics of doing this are immense. We’ve been working side-by-side with other trades, such as the acoustical plasterers,” Mr. Clancy said.

Most of the wood adorning the cathedral will be poplar, but white oak also is being used. He explained that poplar is more user-friendly and mills better. There is crisper detail with it and it is smoother and porous, which lends itself to painting.

Quarter-sawn white oak is used for the chancel rail, narthex, cathedra, and confessional screens.

The Sacred Heart project is close to home for Mr. Clancy. He and his wife, Stephanie, were married at Sacred Heart Church in 1980, eight years before it became a cathedral.

They attend Holy Ghost Church, where he also has lent his woodworking talents. The Clancy family’s roots date to the early 1900s and extend to Immaculate Conception Church.

FEBRUARY 4, 2018 n A9

Men and women religious called ‘witnesses’ to light of Christ ‘They are the glory of God’s people,’ cardinal says as World Day for Consecrated Life celebrated Feb. 2

By Catholic News Service

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/KAREN PULFER FOCHT

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onsecrated men and women reflect the light of Christ and are witnesses to that light “in a world that is often shrouded in shadow,” Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, N.J. observed.

“They are the glory of God’s people. We pray for the perseverance of consecrated men and women and ask God to continue enriching the church with their unique vocation,” he said in a statement as the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.

Cardinal Tobin’s Jan. 29 statement came in advance of the annual celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life Feb. 2, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

It was celebrated in parishes the weekend of Feb. 3-4.

The feast of the Presentation also is known as Candlemas Day, when candles are blessed to symbolize Christ as the light of the world. St. John Paul II instituted the day of prayer for women and men in consecrated life in 1997.

With his statement, the committee headed by Cardinal Tobin also released the results of a survey of women and men religious who professed perpetual vows in 2017 in a religious congregation, province, or monastery based in the United States.

The survey was conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, based at Georgetown University in Washington.

Among the major findings were: n Nearly nine in 10, or 86 percent, of the responding religious said they regularly participated in some type of private prayer activity before they entered their religious institute. About two-thirds participated in eucharistic adoration, prayed the rosary, or attended retreats before entering. Nearly six in 10 participated in spiritual direction before entering. n One-half of responding religious attended a Catholic elementary school, more than four in 10, or 44 percent, attended a Catholic high school, and a near equal proportion, or 43 percent, attended a Catholic college before entering their religious institute. n On average, the responding religious reported that they were 19 years old when they first considered a vocation to religious life, but half were 18 or younger when they first did so. n Nearly nine in 10, or 87 percent, of the responding religious reported that someone encouraged them to consider a vocation to religious life. Over four in 10, or 43 percent, said that a parish priest encouraged their vocation. Half said they were encouraged to consider a vocation by a religious sister or brother; women religious were more likely than men religious to say so. Over four in 10, or 41 percent, reported that they were encouraged to consider a vocation by their friends.

CARA asked the 768 religious

In praise of women and men religious Dominican Sisters of the Congregation of St. Cecilia in Nashville sing Advent songs Dec. 5 at St. Peter Church in Memphis. They were invited to sing by Lumen Civitatis, or “Light of the City,” which was founded to support and promote Catholic culture, education, and leadership in Memphis. institutes, provinces or monasteries that are in the United States to provide the names of women religious or religious brothers and priests who professed or were planning to profess perpetual vows in 2017.

The institutes, provinces, etc., were identified by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, or the USCCB Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations.

A total of 600 major superiors responded, or 78 percent, with the names of 208 men and women religious. Of that number, 100 sisters and nuns and 51 brothers and priests responded — representing a response rate of 73 percent.

The average age of responding religious is 41. Half of the responding religious are age 36 or younger. The youngest is 24 and the oldest is 86.

Two-thirds of the respondents, or 64 percent, identify as white; more than one in six, 18 percent, identify as Asian; and more than one in 10, or 11 percent, identify as Hispanic. Sixty-seven percent of respondents were born in the United States. Of those born outside the United States, the most common country of origin is Vietnam.

Among those identifying as Hispanic/Latino, more than six in 10 — 62 percent — are foreign born.

Of those identifying as Asian/ Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian, seven in 10 are predominantly foreign born. Six percent identify as African-American/black. Ninetyfour percent, or nearly all, who identify as Caucasian/white are U.S. born.

Other survey findings include: n Nearly nine in 10 of the responding religious, or 88 percent, have been Catholic since birth.

More than three-quarters — 77 percent — come from families in which both parents are Catholic.

Among the 12 percent of respondents who became Catholic later in life, the average age at which they did so was 22. n Half of the respondents attended a Catholic elementary school, which is a little higher than that for all Catholic adults in the United States — 50 percent vs.

39 percent. These respondents also are more likely than other U.S. Catholics to have attended a Catholic high school — 44 percent of responding religious, compared to 19 percent of U.S. adult Catholics; and they are much more likely to have attended a Catholic college — 43 percent of responding religious, compared to 10 percent of U.S. adult Catholics.

n The survey found the profession class of 2017 is highly educated, with 25 percent of responding religious having earned a graduate degree before entering their religious institute. More than twothirds — 69 percent — entered their religious institute with at least a bachelor’s degree. n Most religious did not report that educational debt delayed their application for entrance to their institute. Among the 4 percent who did report having educational debt, however, they averaged about four years of delay while they paid down an average of $29,100 in educational debt. n Nearly all of the responding religious, 88 percent, participated in some type of vocation program or experience prior to entering their religious institute. ■

PILGRIMAGE TO THE

HOLY LAND with Fr. Randy Stice

11 Days September 20-30, 2018

Land and Air: $3995

Diocese of Knoxville deaneries announce Lenten penance services for parishes

H

ere are the Lenten penance services scheduled for parishes around the diocese received as of press time: Cumberland Mountain Deanery 7 p.m. ET, unless noted. Feb. 20 — St. Mary, Oak Ridge; Feb. 26 — St. Teresa of Kolkata, Maynardville; March 7 — Our Lady of Perpetual Help, LaFollette; March 8 — Christ the King, Tazewell; March 13 — St. Francis of Assisi, Fairfield Glade, 7 p.m. CT; March 15 — St. John Neumann, Farragut; March 19 — St. Therese, Clinton, and St. Joseph, Norris, at St. Joseph; March 20 — St. Alphonsus, Crossville, 7 p.m. CT; March 26 — All Saints, Knoxville Five Rivers Deanery 7 p.m., unless noted. Feb. 19 —

A10 n FEBRUARY 4, 2018

Good Shepherd, Newport; Feb. 26 — St. Mary, Johnson City; Feb. 27 — St. Patrick, Morristown; March 1 — St. Michael the Archangel, Erwin, 6 p.m.; March 6 — Notre Dame, Greeneville; March 8 — St. Dominic, Kingsport; March 12 — St. Elizabeth, Elizabethton; March 22 — St. Henry, Rogersville Smoky Mountain Deanery 7 p.m., unless noted. Feb. 14 (Ash Wednesday) — Sacred Heart, Knoxville, confessions 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; March 1 — St. Albert the Great, Knoxville; March 13 — Our Lady of Fatima, Alcoa; March 19 — Immaculate Conception, Knoxville; March 20 — Holy Family, Seymour; March 21 — St. John XXIII, Knoxville, 7:30 p.m.; March 31 (Holy Saturday) — Sacred Heart, confessions 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. ■ www.di o k no x .o rg

We share your faith

For More Information Contact: Lisa Morris at 865-567-1245 lisam@select-intl.com www.selectinternationaltours.com

TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C A TH OLI C

Religious angles

Domus Dei continued from page A1

TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C A T HO L I C

Left: Art and architecture come together inside the new cathedral.

Below left: EverGreene Architectural Arts’ original drawings for the cathedral artwork.

Below: An EverGreene artist paints the Sacred Heart of Jesus on a canvas that is the centerpiece of the dome.

Bottom: An EverGreene drawing shows the saints for the new cathedral.

The altar of sacrifice is the central focus of the cathedral, as it is where the Mass is offered. It is 11 feet long and made of Michelangelo Statuario marble, named such because it comes from the same quarry used for Michelangelo’s Pieta. paint. It stands 45 feet high. While the baldacchino’s structure pulls the eye to the altar, its artful design accentuates what is taking place there.

The top of the baldacchino reflects an image of a city with windows and an arching gate. This reflects the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from heaven and represents the uniting of heaven and earth when Mass is celebrated, Father Boettner explained.

The drapery effect on the baldacchino represents the tent that housed the Ark of the Covenant as the Israelites journeyed through the desert.

“After they left the slavery of Egypt, they carried the Ten Commandments in the Ark of the Covenant with them and at the end of the day each day, they put that Ark of the Covenant in a tent, or a tabernacle. So that drapery around the baldacchino gives you the image of the tabernacle of the Ark of the Covenant where the Holy of Holies is, that this really is a place of the divine presence in our midst,” Father Boettner pointed out.

Inscriptions around the baldachino further develop the eucharistic theme. Along the outside, Bishop Stika’s episcopal motto is inscribed on the east side: “Iesu Confido In Te” (Jesus I trust in you). Around the north, west, and south sides is the Gloria Patri prayer invoking the Trinity: “Gloria Patri” (Glory be to the Father), “Et Filio” (And to the

EVERGREENE ARCHITECTURAL ARTS (3)

JIM WOGAN

the front of the altar: an angel with the symbols for alpha and omega, denoting Christ as the beginning and the end; a lamb sitting atop a scroll with seven seals, symbolizing Christ’s victory; and an angel with the chi-rho, the first two Greek letters for Christ.

Sacred Heart parishioners were able to write prayer intentions that were placed inside the altar.

Atop the altar is a flat top called a mensa. The mensa weighs more than 2,500 pounds and is four inches thick. It has five crosses cut into the surface representing the five wounds of Christ.

Situated inside the altar is the reliquary, a container for relics.

Almost every altar in a Catholic church contains at least one relic.

This has been practiced since the early days of the Church and reminds us that when we celebrate Mass, the communion of saints celebrates with us.

Relics of Pope St. Clement of Rome and St. Laetus were placed in the current cathedral’s altar when it was consecrated in 1957. Their relics will be transferred to the new cathedral’s altar. A piece of the Holy Cross, gifted to the diocese

by Cardinal Justin Rigali, will be added to the reliquary.

Additionally, relics of Sts. Teresa of Kolkata, Charbel Makhlouf, John Neumann, Frances Xavier Cabrini, John Bosco, Stanislaus Kostka, Josemaría Escrivá, Faustina, and Margaret Mary Alacoque will be included, as well as relics of three popes: Sts. John Paul II, John XXIII, and Pius X. There also will be relics of three martyrs included: St. Andrew the Apostle, St. Maria Goretti, and Blessed Stanley Rother.

“They always suggest to have relics of martyrs in the altar,” Bishop Stika said. “So one will be St. Maria Goretti. The other is the most recent martyr declared in this area, in North America — it’s Blessed Stanley Rother, a priest from Oklahoma City. He was martyred back in the 1980s in Central America. And the third one I’m most pleased with is a relic of St. Andrew the Apostle, the brother of St. Peter.”

Behind the altar of sacrifice is the altar of repose, which holds the tabernacle. A tabernacle is a box in which the Blessed Sacrament is housed. The word comes from the Latin word tabernaculum meaning “tent.” The tabernacle in the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus has been repurposed from a closed church in Holland and is more than 100 years old.

“The quality of it is exceptional,” Father David Boettner, rector of Sacred Heart Cathedral and a vicar general for the Diocese of Knoxville, said. “It is a beautiful tradition to pass on sacred objects and reuse them from churches that are no longer able to use them. We were very excited to find a home for this tabernacle in our new cathedral.”

Weighing more than 500 pounds, the tabernacle is made of bronze and rose-colored marble. The interior is lined with Lebanon cedar.

Images of wheat and grapes are carved into the doors, representing the elements used in the Mass.

There also is a marble ciborium, a canopy over the tabernacle. The word comes from the Latin word cibo for food, thus a ciborium is a container for food. The ciborium has two Giallo Siena marble columns. On the front of the ciborium is carved the text “Ecce Agnus Dei,” (Behold the Lamb of God).

Among the most eyecatching elements in the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is the large canopy over the altar — the baldacchino. It draws the eye down from the tall ceiling to the top of the altar where the sacrifice of the Mass is offered. The baldacchino in the cathedral is made of wood and finished with faux marble

Son), “Et Spiriti Sancto” (And to the Holy Spirit).

On the inside of the baldacchino, Cardinal Rigali’s episcopal motto is inscribed on the west side: “Verbum Caro Factum Est” (The Word was made flesh). This phrase is found in the Gospel of John. On the south side is “Panis Vivus” (Bread of Life).

On the east side is “Via Veritas et Vita” (The Way, The Truth, and The Life). On the north side is “Pastor Bonus” (the Good Shepherd).

A cloud of witnesses

The dome is the most recognizable feature of the cathedral from the outside. Inside, it also makes a big statement and is full of teaching images. The cathedral’s dome is inspired by the Duomo of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy. The dome of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is 144 feet from the cathedral floor to the top of the exterior cross and is held up by steel columns and tension. The dome’s eight sides serve as a reminder of the day of the resurrection.

“God created the world in six days and He rested on the seventh.

Jesus rose from the dead early in the morning on the first day of the week, which would be Sunday.

Often we call that day the Lord’s Day, and it is also referred to as the eighth day, the day of the new creation or re-creation of humankind, now liberated from the slavery of

sin,” Father Boettner explained.

At the top of the dome is a cupola, or small dome. An oculus, or round opening, in the cupola allows for a shaft of light to beam down. At the top of the cupola is the image of a cross representing Jesus and a triangle representing the Trinity. There is the inscription “Credo In Unum Deum,” which means “I believe in one God” and is the first line of the Nicene Creed.

Images in the dome were handpainted by decorative artists from EverGreene Architectural Arts in New York. The artists painted the images onto canvas in their studio.

The canvas paintings were then placed on the dome interior by hand.

“They’re classics,” Bishop Stika said. “I wanted something that looked kind of iconic, like icons. I like that artwork.”

Near the top of the dome, Jesus is seen revealing his Sacred Heart.

The image is 25 feet tall with an arm-span of 17 feet. The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is depicted by a heart pierced by a soldier’s lance, surrounded by a crown of thorns, and aflame with divine love. To the right of Jesus is the Blessed Mother, and to his left is St. Joseph. Surrounding the Holy Family are the Twelve Apostles: St. Peter, the first pope, is shown holding a set of keys, indicating the keys of the kingdom of heaven when Christ said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). The keys are used as symbols of the papacy. St. Peter is also shown with an upsidedown cross. When he was martyred, he did not feel worthy to die as Christ did and requested that his cross be turned upside down.

St. Andrew is shown holding a scroll, symbolizing that he is a preacher of the Gospel, one who has Domus Dei continued on page A12

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FEBRUARY 4, 2018 n A11

been sent out to share the word of Christ. He is also shown with an X-shaped cross on which he was martyred.

St. Philip is shown with a basket of bread. When Jesus fed the 5,000, he asked Philip, “‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’… Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little’” (John 6:5,7). He also is holding a cross like the one Christ was crucified on, representing St. Philip preaching about Christ.

St. Matthew was a tax collector before becoming an apostle, so he is depicted holding money bags.

He is also shown with a lance, the weapon of his martyrdom.

St. Jude Thaddeus is holding a ship representing the voyages he made in spreading the Gospel. He also is holding a club, the weapon of his martyrdom.

St. Matthias replaced Judas as one of the Twelve. He is holding a book as a sign of spreading the Gospel. He is also shown with an ax, the weapon of his martyrdom.

St. Simon, the brother of James and Jude, is holding a scroll indicating that he had been sent out to share the Gospel. He also is holding a saw, as he was martyred by being sawed into pieces.

St. James the Lesser was the first bishop of Jerusalem and was present at the Council of Jerusalem recorded in Acts 15. He is shown holding a fuller’s club, the instrument of his martyrdom.

St. Thomas is known by many as Doubting Thomas for his refusal to believe the resurrection until he touched the wounds of the resurrected Christ. St. Thomas built several churches in India and thus is shown holding a builder’s square.

He also is shown holding a spear, the weapon of his martyrdom.

St. Bartholomew was flayed alive before being martyred by crucifixion. He is shown holding a knife and his flayed skin.

St. James the Greater, the son of Zebedee, is the only apostle whose martyrdom is recorded in Scripture. In Acts 12:1-2, James is killed under the order of Herod Agrippa.

James is shown holding a book and a staff with shells on it, indicating his pilgrimage by sea to spread the Gospel.

St. John, “the beloved disciple,” became the bishop of Ephesus.

He was the only apostle to die a natural death. He is shown holding a chalice of serpents, representing a poisoning attempt which he survived.

Just below the feet of the Holy Family and the Apostles is a frieze — a decorative band usually above a door frame or on the wall near the ceiling. The text of the frieze quotes a passage from Revelation 5:12: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing.”

Inside the dome drum are 16 saints. Many of the saints represent American Catholicism or nationalities found within the Diocese of Knoxville. They also represent an array of Christian virtues.

“There’s a variety of the saints that just capture the imagination of what is possible,” Bishop Stika said.

The bishop hopes that the saints represented in the dome serve as role models for people in this day and age, to reach out to all cultures Celebrations from page A1

Virgin Mary altar; n Thursday, April 19, 7 p.m. — interfaith prayer service; n Thursday, April 26, 6 p.m. for the Knoxville Diocesan Council of Catholic Women.

The following confirmation Masses also are scheduled for the new cathedral: n Saturday, April 7, 10 a.m. — confirmation Mass for Sacred Heart, Immaculate Conception, St. John XXIII, St. Albert the Great; A12 n FEBRUARY 4, 2018

JIM WOGAN

Domus Dei continued from page A11

A breathtaking view Looking up from the floor of the cathedral reveals the Holy Family, the Twelve Apostles, the Evangelists, and saints. and all people. The saints represented are: St. Francis of Assisi: Well-known for his love of animals and nature, Francis founded the Franciscan order. Franciscans live an ascetic life and promote peace, justice, and a respect for creation. St. Francis of Assisi is depicted in the brown habit of his order. The three knots in the Franciscan censor represent the three vows taken by Franciscans: poverty, chastity, and obedience.

He has the stigmata — the wounds of Christ — in his hands and feet and is holding the Rule of St. Francis. At his feet are two dogs representing Francis’ love for animals. In the tree beside St. Francis is a cardinal, a nod to Cardinal Justin Rigali, who is in residence in the diocese.

St. Patrick: The patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick is credited with the conversion of the Irish. First brought to Ireland as a slave, he escaped but returned as a priest in order to spread the Gospel. He became a bishop and converted many Irish to Christianity. St. Patrick is depicted in green vestments, green being the color of Ireland. He is wearing a bishop’s miter and holding a crozier with a snake beneath it, symbolizing the story that he ran the snakes out of Ireland. He also is holding a shamrock, which serves as a symbol of Ireland. The shamrock’s three leaves are also a reminder of the Trinity.

Between St. Francis of Assisi and St. Patrick is an olive tree representing the virtues of peace and charity.

St. Andrew Kim Taegon: The patron saint of Korea, Andrew Kim Taegon was the first Korean-born Catholic priest. He preached during a time when Christians were heavily persecuted in Korea. Thousands were martyred during this time. He was tortured and beheaded at the age of 25. He was canonized along with 102 other Korean martyrs. St. Andrew Kim Taegon is depicted wearing hanbok (traditional Korean dress), with a red stole representing his priesthood, and a gat (traditional Korean hat). He is holding a crucifix and an olive branch. The olive branch is a traditional sign of Christian martyrs.

St. Andrew Dũng-Lạc: Andrew Dũng-Lạc was a Vietnamese priest.

Vietnamese Christians were persecuted during his time, and he was beheaded for his faith. He was canonized with 116 other Vietnamese Christians and foreign missionaries who were martyred. St. Andrew Dũng-Lạc is depicted holding a cross and giving a blessing, signs of his priesthood. He also is wear-

Holy Ghost; n Saturday, April 7, 2 p.m. — confirmation Mass for All Saints, St. Bridget, Holy Spirit, Shepherd of the Valley, Our Lady of Lourdes; n Saturday, April 14, 10 a.m. — confirmation Mass for St. John Neumann, St. Alphonsus, St. Francis of Assisi in Fairfield Glade, Blessed Sacrament; n Sunday, April 15, 4 p.m. — confirmation Mass for Our Lady of Fatima, St. Augustine, St. Teresa of Kolkata, St. John Paul

ing traditional Vietnamese wooden sandals, called guốc mộc.

Between St. Andrew Kim Taegon and St. Andrew Dũng-Lạc is a dogwood tree representing purity. The dogwood tree can be found in parts of Asia as well as parts of North America, including Tennessee.

St. Maximilian Kolbe: Maximilian Kolbe was a Franciscan priest in Poland known as the Apostle of Consecration to Mary for his deep devotion to the Blessed Mother.

During World War II, he sheltered refugees in his monastery. He was arrested and taken to Auschwitz.

Men were chosen at random to face starvation as a warning against escape attempts. Father Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to take the place of a man who had a family. After two weeks of dehydration and starvation, he was the last of his group to remain alive. The guards gave him a lethal injection of carbolic acid.

St. Maximilian Kolbe is depicted in a striped prison uniform. He is holding a rosary showing his love for the Blessed Virgin Mary and a scroll referencing John 15:13: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

St. John Neumann: The first male American citizen to be canonized, John Neumann immigrated to America from Bohemia as a missionary. He was ordained a priest in the Redemptorist order and focused on building schools. As the fourth bishop of Philadelphia, he was the first prelate to organize a diocesan school system. St. John Neumann is depicted wearing a Redemptorist habit and a red vestment signifying a bishop.

He is holding a pectoral cross — a cross worn on the chest, usually by bishops. His right hand is giving a blessing.

Between St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. John Neumann is a Lebanon cedar tree representing fortitude.

St. Josephine Bakhita: Josephine Bakhita was born in the Sudanese region of Darfur. As a child she was kidnapped and sold into slavery. She was bought and sold several times, winding up in Italy.

With the help of Canossian sisters, she advocated for her freedom.

After being freed, she joined the Canossian order where she helped prepare sisters for missionary work in Africa. St. Josephine Bakhita is depicted in a Canossian habit. She wears broken chains around her wrists, symbolizing her enslavement and subsequent freedom.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux: Known as

II, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in LaFollette, St. Jude in Helenwood, St. Christopher, St. Ann; n Saturday, April 21, 10 a.m. — confirmation Mass for St. Mary in Oak Ridge, Divine Mercy, St. Mary in Gatlinburg, Holy Cross, St. Francis of Assisi in Townsend, Holy Family, St. Therese in Clinton, St. Joseph in Norris; n Sunday, April 22, 4 p.m.

— confirmation Mass for St. Patrick, St. Dominic, St. Henry, St. James the Apostle, Christ the King, Holy www.di o k no x .o rg

the Little Flower, Thérèse of Lisieux was a young Carmelite in France with a deep devotion to Jesus. She believed that small, simple acts could demonstrate great love. Her writings focused on love and simplicity, and she is now considered a Doctor of the Church.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux is depicted wearing the brown habit of a Carmelite. She is holding a crucifix symbolizing her devotion to Christ.

She also holds a bouquet of roses, because on her deathbed she said, “After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth. I will raise up a mighty host of little saints.”

“She is called the Little Flower and associated with the way of loving because as she reflected on St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians about the different parts of the Body of Christ, she decided that she wanted to be the Heart of Jesus,” Father Boettner said. “It really makes sense to have Thérèse of Lisieux in this church because she wanted to love and be that love of Christ in the world, and she is.”

Between St. Josephine Bakhita and St. Thérèse of Lisieux is an olive tree representing peace and charity.

Pope St. John XXIII: As pope, John XXIII was known for his focus on peace and ecumenism. He opened the Second Vatican Council, the ecumenical council focused on pastoral direction and reaching out in evangelization. He was known for his pastoral approach to the papacy.

Pope St. John XXIII is depicted in a white papal cassock. At his feet is a triple crown tiara once worn by popes. The triple crown represents the three-fold munera, or ministries, of priest, prophet, and king. John XXIII was the last pope to wear the tiara. He also holds a miniature version of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in his arms.

“It’s not the building; it’s the opportunity to invite people to come close to Jesus,” Father Boettner said. “We felt it was appropriate for him to hold our new cathedral in his arms because I think he would be excited about what is happening here as well.”

Blessed Paul VI: As pope, Paul VI oversaw the implementation of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. He particularly emphasized the universal call to holiness — that all the faithful are called to a life of holiness. He affirmed Church teachings on social and economic rights and marital relations while encouraging ecumenical dialogue.

Blessed Paul VI is depicted in the white cassock of his papacy.

He is holding a shepherd’s staff signifying his leadership. In his other hand are a copy of his encyclical Humanae Vitae and a crown of thorns. This represents holding true to the faith, even in the face of difficult or challenging teachings.

Between St. John XXIII and Blessed Paul VI is a date palm tree representing spiritual victory.

St. José Luis Sánchez del Río: José Luis Sánchez del Río lived in Mexico during a time of persecution. When he was caught by government officials, they tried to convince him to renounce the faith.

But he exclaimed, “Viva Cristo Rey!” He was only 14 when he was martyred for refusing to renounce

Trinity, Good Shepherd; n Tuesday, April 24, 6 p.m. — confirmation Mass for the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; n Sunday, April 29, 4 p.m.

— confirmation Mass for Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Chattanooga; n Saturday, May 5, 2 p.m.

— confirmation Mass for St. Jude in Chattanooga, St. Stephen, the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul; n Sunday, May 6, 4 p.m.

— confirmation Mass for St. Thérèse of Lisieux,

Domus Dei continued on page A13

St. Catherine Labouré, St. Mary in Athens, St. Joseph the Worker in Madisonville; n Saturday, May 12, 10 a.m. — confirmation Mass for St. Mary in Johnson City, St. Michael the Archangel, Notre Dame in Greeneville, St. Elizabeth, St. Anthony of Padua; n Sunday, May 20, 6 p.m.

— Diocesan-wide adult confirmation Mass; n Sunday, June 3, 4 p.m.

— Mass with the Knights of Columbus for the solemnity of Corpus Christi. ■ TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C A TH OLI C

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JIM WOGAN

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his faith. St. José Sánchez del Río is depicted holding a cross and an olive branch, signs of his love for Christ and his martyrdom.

St. Charbel Makhlouf: Charbel Makhlouf was a monk and priest in the Lebanese Maronite Order in Lebanon. The Maronite Rite is one of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

He was given permission from his superior to go live as a hermit, spending time praying and worshiping in solitude. People in the nearby communities would often seek him out for healing and advice. St. Charbel Makhlouf is depicted in his black habit, holding a Maronite cross.

Between St. José Luis Sánchez del Río and St. Charbel Makhlouf is a Lebanon cedar tree representing fortitude.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: Elizabeth Ann Seton had a heart for caring for the poor, widowed, and orphaned. Raised as a Protestant, she was received into the Catholic Church as an adult after learning about Catholicism from her late husband’s Italian business partners.

Her passion for caring for the poor, particularly poor children, led to the establishment of the first order of religious sisters in the United States, the Sisters of Charity. She also established the first Catholic school for girls in the United States.

She was the first native-born U.S. citizen to be canonized. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is depicted holding a rosary to symbolize her devotion to the Virgin Mary and a book to symbolize her commitment to Catholic education.

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne: A French sister of the Religious Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Rose Philippine Duchesne founded the order’s first communities in the United States. She spent her life ministering on the frontier of the young nation. She is depicted holding a cross and map of the Americas indicating her mission work. “[Her] community was involved in education. They still operate schools in St. Louis,” Bishop Stika said. “Eventually she went even farther west to work with the Native Americans, and one particular tribe, in their native language her name was ‘the woman who prays always.’ Now isn’t that a great example of what it means to be a person of faith?”

Between St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Rose Philippine Duchesne is a dogwood tree representing purity.

St. Damien of Molokai: Damien was born in Belgium, where he joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The brothers thought he was too uneducated to become a priest, but Damien demonstrated his strong desire to learn. He was sent to a mission in Hawaii, where he was ordained a priest. When a leper colony was established on the island of Molokai, Damien went to live with the lepers, providing leadership as well as medical and spiritual care.

Damien died of leprosy that he contracted from serving the people of the leper colony and is recognized a martyr of charity.

St. Damien of Molokai is depicted in his clerics after he had contracted leprosy. One arm is in a sling, and he leans on a cane. At his feet is a pineapple, a symbol of Hawaii.

St. Vincent de Paul: Vincent de Paul was a priest in France who dedicated his time to preaching and giving relief to the poor. He founded the Ladies of Charity for lay women to serve the poor, founded the Vincentian order for priests, and cofounded the religious order the Daughters of Charity. He is sometimes referred to as the “Apostle of Charity” for his mission of serving the poor. St. Vincent de Paul is depicted holding a basket of bread to symbolize his giving to the poor.

Between St. Damien of Molokai and St. Vincent de Paul is a date palm tree representing spiritual victory.

Four pendentives sit at the base of the dome. A pendentive is a curved triangle permitting the

The Lamb of God The marble altar of sacrifice for the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus shows intricately detailed mosaics. The altar will be one of many sacred elements of the cathedral that will be blessed and anointed during the March 3 Dedication Mass. placing of a circular dome over a square portion of a building. Each pendentive has a representation of one of the four Evangelists. These images create a tetramorph, four images that create one unit. The word tetramorph comes from the Greek words tetra, meaning four, and morph, meaning shape. The Evangelists are depicted with the four living creatures referenced in the books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation. St. Irenaeus was the first to connect these creatures to the four Gospel writers.

Matthew is depicted with a winged man. This reminds us of Jesus’ humanity and his genealogy going back to King David. There is also a star of David and a scroll calling for the census in Matthew’s image, more references to Jesus’ Jewish lineage. Matthew’s Gospel traces Jesus’ lineage back to King David.

Mark is depicted with a winged lion. This reminds us of John the Baptist, who called out in the wilderness like a lion. Mark’s image includes a shell, symbolizing John baptizing Jesus, with the phrase, “Ecce Agnus Dei,” (Behold, the Lamb of God). There also is an image of a barren fig tree, a reference to the fig tree Jesus curses in Mark 11:12-25. Mark also is holding a book partially hidden under his cloak. This represents how in the Gospel of Mark no one recognizes Jesus as the Messiah until his crucifixion. The fullness of Jesus’ glory is hidden.

Luke is depicted with a winged ox. The ox was an animal used in Temple sacrifices. This reminds us of the sacrifices made in the Temple. It also alludes to the Canticle of Zechariah, which takes place in the Temple, according to Luke’s Gospel. Zechariah praises the coming of the Messiah. Lilies reference the verse Luke 12:27: “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” There also is the image of an artist’s paints and brush, and Luke is holding an icon of the Blessed Mother holding the Infant Jesus. These remind us that Luke was the first iconographer, and also, his Gospel tells the infancy narrative of Jesus.

John is depicted with an eagle.

This reminds us of Jesus’ higher nature, his divinity. John’s Gospel delves into the richness of salvation history. John is holding a book with the phrase “Et Verbum caro factum est,” meaning “And the Word became flesh.” John’s image includes a crucifix representing the mystery of Jesus’ Passion described in John’s Gospel. The image of grapes references when Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches,” in John 15:5.

Enter into His gates

When one enters the cathedral from the main doors, the first space is the narthex, or greeting area. Traditionally, catechumens remained in the narthex before receiving the sacraments of initiation.

The cathedral will be home to several new statues in the narthex: statues of Sts. Peter, Paul, Teresa of Kolkata, and Faustina. A shrine to Pope St. John Paul II, who estab-

lished the diocese in 1988, also will be added.

“Anytime we use images of the saints, what we’re really trying to do is help people visualize being in communion with saints who are in union with God,” Father Boettner said. “The saints inspire us to desire heaven and union with God.” From the narthex, one enters into the nave, or the main body of the cathedral. The nave is where worshipers pray. The term comes from the Latin word navis, meaning ship. Around the nave is a band of text with 12-inch letters. It includes portions taken from the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Litany of the Sacred Heart makes 33 invocations to Jesus Christ, one for each year of his life.

Entering the nave from the narthex, there is a column on either side made of a type of marble called Giallo Siena because it has a gold tint to it and it comes from the Siena region of Italy. These gold columns act as trumpets, announcing the entrance into this sacred space. Along the sides of the nave are Carrara marble columns representing the pillars of the Church: people of faith. In the sanctuary, the heart of the church, red marble columns represent the heart of Christ.

The columns were raised by Rugo Stone, which also installed the marble flooring and the altar.

Stretching down the marble floor of the nave toward the altar are seven red medallions for the seven sacraments.

Wrought iron lanterns fabricated by metal artist David Cianni, each weighing almost 600 pounds, hang above, illuminating the large space.

Providing an abundance of natural light are the three large rose windows on the north, west, and south sides of the cathedral. The windows are covered by metal grills, the details of which still teach about the faith through its art. The frames are designed to receive stained glass at a later time.

The north window grill has a circle of fish and netting. The fish and nets represent St. Peter, the fisherman, and his pastoral ministry as a fisher of men. The type of fish, pike, is representative of Bishop Stika. In Czech, the name Stika means pike. In the center of the circle are the Greek letters chi and rho, the first two letters of Christ in Greek. The south window grill has a circle made of a crown of thorns. In the center of the circle are spikes. These images represent Christ’s love and suffering for us.

Ninety custom-made pews by New Holland Church Furniture sit in the cathedral: 54 in the nave and 18 in each transept. The pews are made of cherry-stained white oak.

At the end of each pew is a dogwood flower motif, a nod to the Diocese of Knoxville, as the diocesan crest includes a dogwood flower.

The ambo is the elevated area from which the Gospel is read.

Built by David Tressler of Mountain View Millworks in Hedgesville, W.Va., the ambo is made of white oak with a cherry stain to match the pews. Carvings of the living creatures representing the four Evangelists are carved into the front of the ambo.

www.di o k no x .o rg

The white marble Stations of the Cross encircling the nave may look familiar to Sacred Heart parishioners. These images of Jesus’ journey from trial to crucifixion and burial hung in the old cathedral and were repurposed for the new cathedral.

Similarly, the corpus of the crucifix — the body — which hangs behind the altar is from the old cathedral.

It has been attached to a new cross made by Mountain View Millworks to better fit the space of the new cathedral.

Statues of St. Mary, St. Joseph, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, made of white Carrara marble, also have been repurposed from the old cathedral.

In the south transept is a side altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The reredos, or ornamental screen behind the altar, is decorated in indigo with a fleur de lis pattern.

At the top is an inscription: Sancte Maria, ora pro nobis, “Holy Mary, pray for us.”

The north transept altar is dedicated to St. Joseph and has a similar reredos. The wooden altars and reredoses were built by Mountain View Millworks and decorated with paint to appear as marble.

Near the sacristy will be a statue of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests, alongside a memorial book honoring the deceased priests and deacons of the diocese.

“Each priest will have his own page and hopefully a photograph and a bit of history so that people will always have a sense of some of the leadership in the diocese,” Bishop Stika said.

It wouldn’t be a cathedral without a cathedra, or bishop’s seat.

The word cathedra means “chair” in Latin. A church which houses the bishop’s chair is called a cathedral.

The cathedra represents the bishop’s teaching authority, which has been passed down directly from the Apostles. Above the chair, designed

by Art Clancy III of Clancy Custom Woodworking in Knoxville, is Bishop Stika’s coat of arms in marble.

Clancy Custom Woodworking also handcrafted the architrave, the inscription band that goes all the way around the nave that contains excerpts from the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Set in the south transept, the baptismal font will be used in the initiation of new Christians for generations. Made of marble, the bowl of the new baptismal font is about three feet in diameter and carved

by Rugo Stone. Wavy lines on the font represent the flowing waters of baptism.

Eight bronze medallions circle the font. Two represent scenes from the Old Testament: Adam and Eve and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which introduced original sin into humanity, and Jonah in the belly of the whale, a prefigurement of Christ in the tomb. Two medallions represent scenes from the New Testament: Peter casting his net into the water and Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. The last four medallions are clamshells, signs of baptism. The bowl has a wood covering made by Mountain View Millworks. Atop the covering is a bronze statue of John the Baptist by Nick Ring Studio, which also produced the medallions.

The height and majesty of the new cathedral keeps our eyes gazing toward heaven, and all the details throughout serve to keep our minds and hearts on God as we gather there as a community for worship.

Though the dedication of the cathedral will take place at noon on March 3, that does not mean that the cathedral project will be “finished” on that date. Set to serve Catholics in East Tennessee for centuries, the cathedral will accumulate more art and memorials from the faithful community that calls it home. Coming generations will build upon the foundation laid now.

“Cathedrals are ever-evolving,” Bishop Stika said. “And I hope each generation makes a contribution to its beauty.” ■ FEBRUARY 4, 2018 n A13

EverGreene from page A6

A14 n FEBRUARY 4, 2018

Attention to detail Left: An EverGreene Architectural Arts artist paints one of the many frescoes that reflect Church history on the dome of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Below: Another cathedral fresco illustrates Pope St. John XXIII, who is holding the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and Blessed Pope Paul VI, holding his encyclical, Humanae Vitae.

JIM WOGAN (4)

Arts is an anomaly in the construction industry, so is the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In building the cathedral, the Diocese of Knoxville planned a home worthy of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, celebrating Him in sacred worship space adorned by the best gifts and God-given skills of the men and women who erected it. It also is to be a mother church appropriate for the 51 parishes and missions of the diocese.

The cathedral project has drawn top craftsmen representing a variety of construction trades. EverGreene, which came highly recommended, is no different.

EverGreene’s Mike Carpenter spent four months on site inside the cathedral putting in the frescoes. He led a team of eight artisans who placed the paintings of the saints, Apostles, and Holy Family created at EverGreene’s New York studio on the cathedral dome walls.

Mr. Carpenter explained that once the images created in the studio were ready, they had to be transferred to the cathedral dome.

Images in the dome were handcrafted by EverGreene’s decorative artists. The artists painted the images onto canvas in the New York studio. The canvas paintings were then transferred to templates and placed on the dome interior by hand.

The process has been painstakingly detail-oriented, according to Emily Sottile, director of EverGreene’s Sacred Space Studio, who oversaw creation of the dome artwork.

She said the Diocese of Knoxville approached EverGreene to offer a proposal for the cathedral work in mid-2016. Before EverGreene was selected, a diocesan team comprising Bishop Richard F. Stika, Cardinal Justin Rigali, Father David Boettner, cathedral architect James McCrery, and Mary Mac Wilson, director of parish operations for Sacred Heart Cathedral, developed a liturgical artistry program for the cathedral.

Ms. Sottile said EverGreene worked with the cathedral team on how each element would look individually and as part of the cathedral.

“The upper dome depicts the risen Christ, the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On either side of Christ is the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. On either side of them are the Twelve Apostles. The level below that in the dome is the restored Garden of Eden with many wonderful saints. That is the Communion of Saints,” Ms. Sottile explained.

Scriptural passages also adorn the cathedral walls where the dome transitions to the nave and the transepts.

She noted that the pendentives — the four corners that taper into the wall from the dome — contain the Four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). And there are stars on the coffers above the nave.

To illustrate how intricately detailed the cathedral is, inside the coffers where the stars are painted are the sprinkler heads for the cathedral fire safety sys-

tem. Father Boettner points out that basic elements of any building that are critical to its function, such as sprinkler heads, electrical switches, and heating and air conditioning ducts were designed to blend in with the cathedral’s ornate architecture and not detract from it.

“When we were introduced to the project, the team had wonderful references of the images. We had to design what the images would look like,” Ms. Sottile said. “We began to paint these images on canvas in our studio in Brooklyn and that went on for several months.”

“We depict the blood and water of Christ in our paint,” she added. “All of the symbolism and detail are from Catholic liturgical precedent; harmonious scale and style transfer it into a language that is expressed visually, and it unfolds over time to lead people in following the Christian mysteries.”

Ms. Sottile pointed out that the ecclesiastical artwork is never just decorative; it’s about helping to teach, to pray, and support what the cathedral will do in all its aspects.

Overcoming technical difficulties was one of the biggest challenges facing EverGreene in creating and installing the frescoes.

Those difficulties included making the images clear and undistorted inside the dome that is more than 100 feet above the cathedral floor. A related challenge was making the images stand out on dome walls that are curved.

EverGreene has a stable of artists — more than 200 — that creates its construction art, with many of them assigned to the Brooklyn studio, and others like Mr. Carpenter working in the field.

EverGreene also had an artistic role on the cathedral’s exterior. A gilding

Artwork in progress An EverGreene artist prepares a piece of a fresco to be placed in the dome of the new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. expert was lifted to the top of the dome to place gold leaf on the cross atop the dome.

Another technical challenge EverGreene had to overcome was in the field.

Mr. Carpenter noted that a number of construction disciplines were underway simultaneously, which placed workspace at a premium. For example, the EverGreene team was placing its artwork on the dome ceiling as carpenters were installing molding, trim, and hand-crafted wood fixtures next to them, and

crews were putting in the concrete floor base below.

But such is the nature of a major construction project that is relatively large in the scope of complexity and detail and relatively small in square-footage.

“It’s been difficult due to so many trades in the same area. All the trades want to work in the same progression,” Mr. Carpenter said, noting that his team of construction artisans adjusted to working side-by-side with other crafts.

A computer-aided design program assisted in creat-

Tools of the trade EverGreene artists lay out their materials for the cathedral dome artwork. The artisans worked for weeks inside the cathedral dome placing the artwork. www.di o k no x .o rg

ing the cathedral images in the studio. At Sacred Heart, Mr. Carpenter and his team took positions atop scaffolding surrounding the dome interior and applied the artwork created in Brooklyn to the cathedral’s blank canvas — its walls.

This process involved recreating the intricate, lifesize images made in the EverGreene studio using paper templates and specially designed paint that not only gives the images life, but preserves them, too.

“Climate control and new materials enhance the longevity of our work.

We have better materials that last longer and don’t yellow as quickly. For instance, we use archival varnish,” Mr. Carpenter noted.

“We take the paper images up and tack them to the wall. We use a lot of lasers now. That speeds up the project. We project a lot of laser lines onto the project.”

He acknowledged that painting flat images onto curved spaces has been difficult, and pointed out that time and resources prevent the dome images from being painted like the Sistine Chapel, which took years to complete.

Mr. Carpenter can relate to the intricate artistry that Michelangelo created inside EverGreene continued on page A15 TH E EA S T TEN N ES S EE C A TH OLI C

Sacred continued from page A4

misleading as bishops did not come into play until the 4th century.

With the early Christian church based largely in Rome, their architecture was mostly also based on Roman precedents. In the Roman Empire, local magistrates would hold court in a long, rectangular hall called a basilica. In one end of the hall, the magistrate would legislate and at the other end was generally a small chapel-style temple to worship the Roman gods.

Basilicas were important to Romans as they constituted an unrestricted public space, something Romans valued as a right of citizenship. This meant that practically anybody could congregate in a basilica to hold meetings, socialize, or discuss important matters. When early Christians started coming together to practice their religion, they often did so in Roman basilicas.

Because early Roman Christians met in basilicas, they were used to worshiping in basilicas and thus, basilicas became the obvious choice as a model for the first formal place of worship. Therefore, the first cathedrals looked like a Roman basilica, long, rectangular, and they also generally featured three aisles divided by rows of columns.

And while a cathedral is the home church for the bishop or archbishop of a Catholic diocese, a basilica is an important church building designated by the pope because it carries special spiritual, historical, and/or EverGreene continued from page A14

the Vatican. He can even imagine the artist painting today, maybe using newfangled tools of modern artisans like lasers and CAD programs.

And then there is the payoff, whether it was 500 years ago or today.

“The reward is the oooohs and ahhhhs you get from the people,” he said. “Just seeing the work we do and then seeing the reaction to the work we do makes it all worthwhile.”

Mr. Carpenter, who manages the EverGreene field team, said all EverGreene artisans have degrees in fine arts and are accomplished artists in their own rights.

“It’s was an amazing crew. They specialized in large murals,” he noted, pointing to what seems like a contradiction in terms: construction art. “It’s odd. You wouldn’t think commercial artwork is conducive to art in a construction setting. The saying is measure twice, cut once.

TH E EAST T E N N E S S E E C A T HO L I C

architectural significance. Basilica, like the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga, is the highest permanent designation for a church building, and once a church is named a basilica, it cannot lose its basilica status.

Later, church architects added a perpendicular section, making the entire building look like a Christian cross. This is called a cruciform plan. To this day, most cathedrals are built in the basilica cruciform plan.

Over time, cathedrals came to share a common adherence to a basic floor plan, although there are always exceptions. When you walk through the main front door of the cathedral, generally called the West Door, you enter into the narthex. The narthex is a congregating space, often separated from the main worship area by another set of doors. The narthex has changed quite a bit over the years. At times it was almost non-existent and at others it was massive. Some medieval cathedrals had large seating areas in an elevated narthex reserved for royal patrons, while others used the narthex to hold royal tombs.

Past the narthex is the main part of the church. Generally, this main part has three central aisles. The middle aisle is called the nave. The side aisles were historically used for people passing through the church to get to one of the chapels, while the nave was used for processionals.

The front of the nave is intercepted

by a long perpendicular section called the transept. If you think of a cathedral like a cross, the transept is the horizontal post. Transepts often contain chapels, small areas meant for private worship.

Church buildings embodying the functions of a cathedral first appear in Italy, Gaul, Spain, and North Africa in the 4th century, but cathedrals did not become universal within the Western Catholic Church until the 12th century, by which time they had developed architectural forms, institutional structures, and legal identities distinct from parish churches, monastic churches, and episcopal residences.

While in Catholicism the term cathedral applies to a church that houses the seat of the bishop of a diocese, the abbey church of a territorial abbacy serves the same function (that is, houses the seat of the abbot), but does not have the title.

In any other jurisdiction canonically equivalent to a diocese but not canonically erected as such (prelature, vicariate, ordinariate, prefecture, apostolic administration), the church which serves this function is correctly called the “principal church” of the respective entity—though some have coopted the term “cathedral” anyway.

The Catholic Church also uses the following terms: n A pro-cathedral is a parish or other church used temporarily as a cathedral, usually while the cathedral of a diocese is under construc-

tion, renovation, or repair. This designation applies only as long as the temporary use continues. n A co-cathedral is a second cathedral in a diocese that has two sees.

This situation can arise in various ways such as a merger of two former dioceses, preparation to split a diocese, or perceived need to perform cathedral functions in a second location due to the expanse of the diocesan territory. n A proto-cathedral is the former cathedral of a transferred see. n The cathedral church of a metropolitan bishop is called the metropolitan cathedral.

While the term cathedral doesn’t specifically refer to the size or ornateness of the building, most cathedrals are particularly impressive edifices.

So the term cathedral is often applied colloquially to any large and impressive church, regardless of whether it functions as a cathedral, such as the Crystal Cathedral in California or the Arctic Cathedral in Norway.

Although the builders of Crystal Cathedral never intended the building to be a true cathedral, the Catholic Diocese of Orange purchased the building and the surrounding campus in February 2012 for use as a new cathedral church. The building is now under renovation and restoration for solemn dedication under the name Christ Cathedral this year. ■

Well, we measure 10 times. Make it correct. Make it beautiful. And meet the deadline. Part of what we do is getting the job done on time.”

Now that it’s finished, the 20-year EverGreene employee described the cathedral work as “very gratifying” and called the dome artwork “breathtaking.”

As complex as construction art can be, Ms. Sottile said it also is important to know what construction art isn’t. She noted that the success of a project depends on knowing what works and what doesn’t.

“Jeff Greene, who founded this company, has studied paint and materials. So we have an understanding of the materials used and the materials we’re painting on,” she said. “It’s just through knowledge of materials and technique.

It’s a recipe. It’s understanding the pathology of paint; what makes paint fail,” she said. “We have to understand why and how materials react with each other and how they behave.”

EverGreene’s designs for the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus are originals, collaborations between the diocesan liturgical team and members of EverGreene’s ecclesiastical artwork division.

By the time the cathedral is dedicated on March 3, EverGreene will have spent a year and a half creating 35 figures for the dome.

“It’s quite a lot of artwork. It’s been an all-hands-on-deck group effort,” Ms. Sottile reflected. “Always with religious artwork there’s an iconographical vocabulary. We know how to read iconography.

Yes, we know who Mary is, and Jesus, of course. But we also know the saints.”

The diocesan team was applauded by Ms. Sottile for their dedication to the ecclesiastical art project.

“They were extremely intentional on the themes and imagery, and they worked extremely closely with us. Our job was to articulate their vision visually. When James McCrery was designing the cathedral,

he had this in mind.”

Ms. Sottile is an art historian by training with a focus on ecclesiastical art of the Medieval and Renaissance periods. She has been with EverGreene for 10 years, serving the past four years as director of EverGreene’s sacred space studio.

She’s also Catholic and has two master’s degrees, the most recent in theology.

“There’s always more to learn about theology, art, architecture, construction, and materials,” she said. “To get to do work that elevates you and brings others to God is a blessing. Give glory to God in the artwork and architecture.

Ms. Sottile is convinced she has the best job possible, working at the intersection of faith and fine art.

“I get to work on truly remarkable churches, and this is truly a special, remarkable cathedral. It’s not just decoration. It has a function in the faith life of people. It’s a beacon,” she said. ■

www.di o k no x .o rg

(Information from Busted Halo.com, Wikipedia, Study.com, and Tripod.com contributed to this report.)

FEBRUARY 4, 2018 n A15

Archbishop José Gomez inspires LA Encuentro delegates Lay leaders, clergy, religious take part as encounter movement spreads across the country our nation and our world — to the new encounter with Jesus Christ.”

In his remarks, Archbishop Gomez also emphasized “this encuentro is not just about Latinos.”

“It is about the whole Church coming together — men and women, black and white, Latinos, Africans, Asians, Europeans, the peoples of Oceania, all the beautiful diversity that makes up the family of God here in Los Angeles and throughout the United States,” he said. “We are all called to live as children of God and to proclaim Christ as missionary disciples.”

He added, “The disciples at Emmaus set out at once to tell everyone of their encounter with Jesus Christ. This is our task now.

This is the call of this Fifth (National) Encuentro.”

Parish leaders throughout the Los Angeles archdiocese attended sessions to reflect on the encuentro process and discern ways of becoming missionary disciples to strengthen the entire Catholic Church by serving all its members, especially the underserved.

The Jan. 27 gathering offered an opportunity for archdiocesan delegates to reconvene and continue the consultation process until the April regional gathering in Visalia, Calif., and the “V Encuentro” in Grapevine.

“The vision of ‘V Encuentro’ is to become more aware of God’s love in our lives and to share it with others, especially those most in need,” said Ernesto Vega,

Relics continued from page A6

burial. Remains may be buried in the ground, in the sea, or above ground within, for example, a cave or columbarium. The point is that a burial occurs within a single place, such that it can be said that the person “occupies” the place as a final location of rest. The human heart longs for this.

We see people arriving at graves and speaking to the grave as if they were speaking to the deceased. And they do so differently than they might speak to the dead at home. At the grave, they speak to the dead as if they are in a place.

For this reason, among others, the Church has always taught not only that it is completely beneath the dignity of human body to have its remains “scattered,” but also completely beneath basic human sensibilities.

People need a place to encounter and meet the dead in their physicality.

Nevertheless, the saints, as members of the body of Christ, have a right to have their remains venerated. And this right, flowing from their dignity as members of the Body of Christ, supersedes their right to have their remains remain in burial.

Q: What is the proper way to keep relics? Are lay Catholics allowed to have first class relics in their homes?

A: Relics are very precious. They are not something that was alive at one time and is now dead. In the case of first class relics, we are talking about flesh that is awaiting the general resurrection, where the soul of a saint will be reunited with his physical remains.

As such, the way we treat relics is of the utmost importance. Ideally, relics should be kept in a church or chapel where they can be made available for public veneration.

The highest honor the Church can give to a relic is to place it within an altar, where the Mass may be celebrated over it. This practice dates from the earliest centuries of the Church. In fact, the sepulchers of the martyrs were the most prized altars for the liturgy.

As an alternative to encasing them within altars, they may be installed within a devotional niche where people may venerate them. Such shrines are important as they afford people a deeper experience of intimacy with the saint.

simply, the grave is exhumed and the mortal remains are retrieved.

Only the Church has the juridical power to formally recognize the sanctity of an individual. When the Church does this — through beatification and canonization — their relics receive the canonical recognition as being sacred relics.

There is an importance difference between beatification and canonization. Beatification is the declaration by the Church that there is strong evidence that the person in question is among the blessed in heaven.

Nevertheless, beatification permits only local devotion. That is, devotion in the country in which the individual lived and died. When Mother Teresa was beatified, for instance, only in India and in her native Albania was her devotion permitted. Her Mass could not be celebrated, for example, in the United States, nor could her relics be placed within its altars.

Whereas beatification permits local devotion, canonization, on the other hand, mandates universal devotion.

It grants to the canonized individual the rights of devotion throughout the universal Church.

The Church allows saints’ body parts to be scattered for relics, but forbids the scattering of ashes of the deceased who are cremated. Why is that?

Every person has a right to a burial.

This means that the community has a duty to bury the dead.

Every human society and culture throughout time has felt this duty. The dead have always been buried, and archaeology has never discovered a human community that did not practice this. One could rightly say, therefore, that burying the dead forms part of our human cultural DNA. The theological term for this instinct is natural law. Nature has imprinted a law within the human heart that manifests itself in the practice of burying the dead as a final act of love and devotion, or at least an act of respect and propriety.

It should be no surprise, then, that the Church lists as one of the corporal works of mercy burying the dead.

Grace does not destroy nature but perfects it.

There is flexibility in the kind of A16 n FEBRUARY 4, 2018

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/VICTOR ALEMAN, ANGELUS NEWS

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os Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez urged the crowd at the archdiocesan “V Encuentro” Jan. 27 to bring “the people of our times to a new encounter with Jesus Christ and the mercy and love of God.” He addressed more than 1,000 Catholic lay leaders, clergy, and religious from 52 parishes in all regions of the tri-county Archdiocese of Los Angeles gathered at the Pasadena Convention Center.

Diocesan-level encuentros and regional encuentros are taking place around the country as part of a process of reflection and action leading up to the U.S. Catholic Church’s Fifth National Encuentro, or “V Encuentro,” to be held Sept. 20-23 in Grapevine, Texas.

The Diocese of Knoxville on Oct. 21 held its V Encuentro, a convocation led by Bishop Richard F. Stika that was attended by approximately 400 parishioners.

In Los Angeles, Archbishop Gomez, speaking to those gathered, said, “Let us walk behind Jesus and take up our cross — following him and to bringing the people of our times to a new encounter with Jesus Christ and the mercy and love of God.” “Let us reach out especially to those who are on the ‘peripheries’ — the homeless and the immigrant, the sick and the suffering, the child waiting to be born, the prisoner hoping for a second chance,” he continued. “Let us walk together with Jesus and bring

By Catholic News Service

Hands-on encounter People pray Jan. 27 during a gathering of more than 1,000 Catholic lay leaders, clergy, and religious from 52 parishes in all regions of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. They came together for the archdiocesan encuentro at the Pasadena Convention Center. coordinator of the archdiocesan encuentro.

During the day, participants shared testimonials of healing and conversion based on opportunities they have had during encuentro trainings to serve people in need.

“The ‘V Encuentro’ is a wake-up call for all Catholics, but especially our Hispanic/Latino communities to become agents of renewal for church and society,” said Jesuit Father Allan Figueroa Deck, a theologian from Loyola Marymount University, who facilitated the reflection session titled “Take the Initiative.”

“For 50 years, the encuentro processes have contributed a strong pastoral and social justice agenda to the church in the United States, one that resonates perfectly with Pope Francis’ call for pastoral conversion and missionary discipleship,” he said.

On Jan. 29, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that delegate registration for the

Fifth National Encuentro opens Feb. 20. In attendance will be 3,000 Hispanic/Latino ministry leaders/delegates from dioceses, ecclesial movements, schools, universities, and Catholic organizations from across the country.

The delegates will represent more than 165 dioceses; they are being selected from among the nearly 250,000 people participating in the local process over the past year. Over 100 bishops are expected to lead diocesan delegations.

The national encuentro “is the summit experience” that comes at the midpoint of a four-year process, said Alejandro AguileraTitus, the USCCB’s national coordinator for the “V Encuentro.”

“One of the most important outcomes of the (national) ‘V Encuentro’ is the discernment of priorities and recommendations that will guide Hispanic ministry in the United States for the next 10 to 15 years,” he said in a statement. ■

The Church does not forbid the possession of relics by lay persons. They may even keep them in their homes.

However, because of the many abuses that have been committed concerning relics, the Church will no longer issue relics to individuals — not even to clergy.

These abuses included failing to give them proper devotion (neglect), careless mistreatment of them, discarding them, and in some cases, even selling them. The abuses were not necessarily committed by the person to whom the Church had originally bequeathed the relics.

But when such people became deceased, and the relics were passed on by inheritance, they were often subject to great vulnerability. With the eclipse of the Christian culture in the western world, faith can no longer be taken for granted, even among the

children of the most devout people.

Thus, to protect relics, the Church only issues them to Churches, chapels, and oratories.

Q: How important is the authenticity of the relic? How does the Church go about determining authenticity of very old relics from the beginning of the Church?

A: The authenticity is critically important.

But for the ancient saints, determining identity is much easier than you might think. It was tradition to build a church over top of a saint’s grave.

That is why St. Peter’s Basilica is where it is, or why St. Paul Outside the Walls is there. Both encompass the tomb for the saint, which is located directly beneath the altar.

Modern archaeology has only affirmed what the ancient tradition has believed. ■

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Celebrate Mardi Gras At Notre Dame High School with:

Theology On Tap

Tues Feb 13

JASON EVERT

6:00-9:00 pm at NDHS

Join us for a night filled with food, wine, music, and fun as we celebrate Mardi Gras at Notre Dame with a dynamic talk on “Parenting with Purity” by internationally renowned speaker Jason Evert at 7:00 p.m.

Jason and his wife Crystalina have spoken to over one million people about the virtue of Chastity and have founded a ministry promoting purity called The Chastity Project.

Notre Dame is both honored and privileged to hold this event and offer it free of charge to the parents of our community.

Put this on your calendar and be in the know about communicating with your son or daughter about dating, love, relationships, and respect!

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Funeral Mass celebrated for Father Frank Brett

In Brief St. Mary School in Johnson City seeking principal St. Mary Catholic School, grades pre-K thru 8 in Johnson City, has begun a search for its next principal. Anchored in love, St. Mary School exists to promote Gospel values, academic excellence, and service to others. The principal is responsible for the overall leadership and administration of the school and strives to provide opportunities for the students to be prepared for life in today’s Church and society through a strong foundation and progressive curriculum as well as through instructional and spiritual formation in the basic beliefs, values, and traditions of the Catholic Church.

The successful candidate will be a practicing Catholic in good standing with the Church who supports the teachings of the Catholic Church and embodies our school’s mission and culture through behavior and daily interactions. A master’s degree in education or a similar field, a minimum of three years’ experience as a school administrator, and a minimum of five years’ teaching experience are required. Additional requirements include having the ability to handle confidential and sensitive information, being detail oriented with strong people skills, and a willingness to ask tough questions.

While we sincerely appreciate all applicants, only those candidates selected for interview will be contacted. Please note the selected candidate will be required to submit to all required screening procedures and must possess or have the ability to obtain a valid license by the state of Tennessee in school administration or leadership.

We are an equal opportunity employer. Minority/Female/Disabled/ Veteran. Except where prohibited by state law, all offers of employment are conditioned upon successfully passing a background check. This employer uses E-Verify.

Applicants should send resumes to jmills@dioknox.org.

Virtus training sessions scheduled for diocesan parishes The Diocese of Knoxville’s program for the protection of children, youth, and vulnerable adults is offered throughout the diocese. These seminars are required for parish and school employees and regular volunteers who come in contact with children and vulnerable adults: St. Mary Church, Johnson City, 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17; 1 p.m.

Saturday, April 14; Sacred Heart Cathedral, 6 p.m. Thursday, March 22; 6 p.m. Thursday, April 26; Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, Chattanooga, 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27; All Saints Church, 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28; 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 28; St. Dominic Church, 1 p.m. Saturday, March 24; 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 15; St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 3 p.m. Sunday, March 4. ■

F

Bishop Stika is celebrant for services at St. Augustine Chapel

ather Francis X. Brett, a Diocese of Knoxville priest and former U.S. Army chaplain and teacher, passed away Dec. 18 at Alexian Village Retirement Center in Signal Mountain following a battle with cancer. He was 86.

A funeral Mass for Father Brett was celebrated Dec. 21 at St. Augustine Chapel at Alexian Village, with Bishop Richard F. Stika serving as the celebrant.

A military burial was being held in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., where he was being interred on Chaplain’s Hill with his brother, Father Robert Raymond Brett, a U.S. Navy chaplain who was killed in action in Vietnam in 1968 during the Battle of Khe Sanh.

Father Frank Brett was born March 11, 1931, in Pennsylvania and was educated in the Philadelphia Catholic school system. He graduated from St. Bernard’s College in Cullman, Ala., and he was ordained a priest by Bishop William L. Adrian in the Diocese of Nashville on May 23, 1959. Father Brett taught at Knoxville Catholic High School and held several pastoral assignments, including serving at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Knoxville, Our Lady of Fatima Church in Alcoa, and St. Joseph Church in Norris.

Father Brett, who had earned a Ph.D., joined the U.S. Army in 1969 and volunteered to serve as a military chaplain in Vietnam.

In 1970, Chaplain Brett received the Bronze Star for valor. In addition, Chaplain Brett also received

the Legion of Merit, the Army Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the National Defense Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, Fr. Brett the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal for his military service.

In 1998, Father Brett retired from the Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He continued to serve as a Diocese of Knoxville priest before relocating to Melbourne, Fla., when he retired as an active priest.

In addition to his brother, he was preceded in death by his parents, Francis and Margaret Brett of Philadelphia. He is survived by three sisters and one brother, Rosemary Brett Rouse of Colling dale, Pa., Anastasia Brett Lawlor of Glenolden, Pa., Catherine Coleman Branda of Bensalem, Pa., and John Coleman of Secane, Pa., as well as a number of nephews, nieces, grandnephews, and grandnieces.

The family requested that anyone who wants to honor Father Brett do so by donating to the Father Frank Brett Scholarship Fund in care of the Diocese of Knoxville, 805 S. Northshore Drive, Knoxville, TN 37919. ■

Diocese of Memphis to close network of inner-city Catholic schools Jubilee Catholic Schools, opened in 1999, have been operating through donations to a trust fund

A

trust fund that supports a Catholic school network in inner-city Memphis is running dry, forcing diocesan officials to announce that the schools will close at the end of the 20182019 academic year.

Vince Higgins, director of communications for the Diocese of Memphis, said the closing of all nine Jubilee Catholic Schools as well as the affiliated St. Michael School was “a long time coming.”

“Without some great benefactor coming forth saying, ‘We’ll fund the schools,’ we can’t face that cost,” Mr. Higgins told Catholic News Service Jan. 24.

The diocese expects that a separate network of charter schools will take the place of the jubilee schools that will keep “the same schools, same curriculum, same teachers, same student pool, same parents” in place, allowing for a high level of academic achievement to continue, Higgins said.

Organizers of the charter school plan must meet a Feb. 1 deadline to file a letter of intent to open the new schools for the 2019-20 academic year.

The jubilee school network was formed in 1999 with a multimillion dollar donation from an anonymous group of donors who wanted to reopen Catholic elementary schools in some of the city’s neediest neighborhoods.

The network expanded to nine schools over the years. Higgins said that while St. Michael School was not part of the network, it received support from the trust fund to keep its doors open.

The schools opened with a plan to include tuition-paying students as well as those from poor

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families who could not afford tuition. In more recent years, the number of nonpaying students rose, causing the trust fund to draw down more rapidly, Mr. Higgins said.

“Because it grew so large so fast for the last few years, the trust has been used to overcome deficits,” he explained. “We’re at the point now that the trust fund is going to be depleted.”

About 1,500 students are enrolled in the jubilee schools with an additional 152 students enrolled at St. Michael School.

Among the schools closing are Memphis Catholic Middle and High School and eight elementary schools.

Replacing the Catholic schools with publicly funded but privately run charter schools is the “best possible outcome considering the circumstances that we are faced with,” Mr. Higgins said.

After filing a letter of intent Feb. 1, the charter school supporters must file a formal application by April 1. State and local school officials then will vet the proposal before making a final decision on whether the plan meets legal and educational standards.

“There has not been a lot of talk between the charter group and the diocese,” Mr. Higgins said.

“The charter group is separate and we won’t know who they will be until Feb. 1.”

Should the charter schools open, they will not have a religious component, a fact that concerns some parents, Mr. Higgins added.

“That is the biggest rub that people are having about it.

They’re asking, ‘What about the

By Catholic News Service

“Without some great benefactor coming forth saying, ‘We’ll fund the schools,’ we can’t face that cost. ... Because it grew so large so fast for the last few years, the trust has been used to overcome deficits. We’re at the point now that the trust fund is going to be depleted. ” — Vince Higgins Diocese of Memphis communications director Catholicity of the school? What about faith formation,’” he said.

Mr. Higgins said diocesan officials hope that the Catholic faith would continue to be taught by educators from each school’s affiliated parish during after-school hours.

The jubilee schools were welcomed in 1999 with deep appreciation and prayers of thanksgiving by diocesan officials, including now-retired Bishop J. Terry Steib, SVD. The first school, St. Augustine, opened with kindergarten through second-grade students, and an additional class was added each year through sixth grade.

Other schools in the network

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gradually opened one by one and expanded as well.

In 2006, $44 million in donations led to the establishment of the Catholic Memphis Urban Schools, a trust fund to support the jubilee schools. At the time, Bishop Steib said he felt the future of Catholic schools in the inner city was assured.

However, changing demographics meant more poor families who could not afford to pay tuition remained in the city. Parents opted to send their children to the schools over Memphis public schools because of high academic achievement and, to a lesser extent, the teaching of the Catholic faith. ■

FEBRUARY 4, 2018 n A17

Knoxville March for Life takes a different route in 2018 Threat of protests from fringe groups forces annual event indoors; overflow crowd of pro-life supporters turns out

BILL BREWER

T

he 43rd annual March for Life took a different route this year to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on abortion.

East Tennessee Catholics and pro-life supporters from around the area took part in this year’s march, which turned into a rally at the Knoxville Convention Center after threats deemed “credible” by the Knoxville Police Department were made to Tennessee Right to Life, which sponsors the march.

A crowd estimated at 700 filled a convention center ballroom Jan. 21 and overflowed into the lobby to share its opposition to abortion, receive updated news from Nashville on the pro-life front in Tennessee, and hear remarks from several candidates for governor.

The yearly march typically begins with a brief gathering before those attending walk to the site of a Knoxville abortion provider.

However, Tennessee Right to Life began receiving e-mails several days before the 2018 event warning that fringe groups planned to disrupt the March for Life as well as a separate women’s march scheduled for downtown Knoxville.

After consulting with police, who informed Tennessee Right to Life that the threats were real, TRL decided to keep the March for Life indoors.

Stacy Dunn, director of the Knox County chapter of Tennessee Right to Life, thanked the hundreds in attendance and explained the unexpected change in plans.

“I want you to know that you are the most prayed for people ever to come to this event. You don’t know it, but people have been praying for you for many days, many hours. This event has been covered in so many prayers that you can almost feel the angels in the room,” Mrs. Dunn said.

“Once we received credible information, we went to the Knoxville Police Department, who confirmed that white supremacists as well as Antifa had threatened to be here today. They (police) advised us that we did not want to be in the crosshairs of that. Since then, KPD has been advising us on the best way to make sure this event still took place and that we were able to keep you as safe as possible and away from the harassment of these groups,” Mrs. Dunn explained.

Tennessee Right to Life issued a statement in the days leading up to the March for Life to let the community know how regrettable it was that any group, whether

Rally for Life An overflow crowd of pro-life supporters gathered Jan. 21 at the Knoxville Convention Center and took part in a rally rather than a march. Will Brewer, Tennessee Right to Life director of government relations, updates the supporters on pro-life legislation and Amendment 1. right-wing extremists or leftwing extremists, or an individual would attempt to draw attention to themselves and their own agendas at an event meant to focus on unborn children and their mothers in a peaceful and prayerful way. The statement also said any group that promotes dehumanizing world views is not in tandem with Tennessee Right to Life’s position on the value of every person’s dignity and life.

“We are here because of the possible threat to your safety. We have made adjustments to this year’s March for Life event, and I cannot overstate how much we appreciate all the help that we have received from the Knoxville Police Department,” Mrs. Dunn said.

“But I don’t want these things to cloud why we are here today. We are not here for the controversy; protecting life should not be controversial. We are not here for a pity party of woe is us. We offer all our suffering up to the Lord for the babies. And we are not here to cower in fear of some innocuous threat. We know Almighty God is here with us and what the enemy has meant for evil, He will use for good,” she added. “We are here to stand for life. We are here to be a voice for the unborn children. We are here to stand for the protection of women who are exploited by a ruthless abortion industry that preys on fear. We want nothing more than to stand in solidarity against the greatest holocaust of our time.”

The enthusiastic crowd, made up of many young couples with small children, cheered and held signs in support of the pro-life effort, which received good news in recent weeks. On Jan. 9, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati struck down a federal

court ruling and upheld the state of Tennessee’s 2014 vote in favor of Amendment 1 to the state constitution.

Will Brewer, director of government relations for Tennessee Right to Life, told those gathered at the March for Life rally that the appellate court decision was a victory for all pro-life supporters in Tennessee.

“The original lawsuit requested that the votes be recounted or for the results to be nullified. This lawsuit is one more example of pro-abortion activists refusing to trust the ‘common sense and compassion’ of Tennesseans who voted to approve Amendment 1 on Nov. 4, 2014,” Mr. Brewer said.

Mr. Brewer also outlined prolife measures that have been moving through the legislature since Amendment 1 was approved.

He noted that in 2015, the legislature approved informed consent for women and girls considering abortion, a 48-hour waiting period, and required inspection and licensing of abortion facilities by the state health department.

In 2016, the legislature approved a ban on the trafficking of fetal remains and signed consent by the mother as to the disposition of fetal remains.

In 2017, the legislature passed the Tennessee Infant Protection Act that requires testing for viability when a woman seeks an abortion and the unborn child is determined to be 20 weeks in gestational development. An abortion is banned if the child is determined to be viable.

Mr. Brewer said that in 2018, Tennessee Right to Life will work with legislators to turn into law a 2012 Haslam administration policy that prioritizes Title X family planning funds to ethical healthcare providers, including county

By Bill Brewer

health departments and federally qualified health centers.

The pro-life supporters also heard brief remarks from gubernatorial candidates Bill Lee, Randy Boyd, and Diane Black.

The candidates touted their prolife stances and told the ballroom filled with voters how they would support pro-life state legislation and policies. Mr. Lee is a Middle Tennessee businessman who is chairman of Lee Co. Mr. Boyd is an East Tennessee businessman who founded Radio Systems Corp. He also has served as an adviser to Gov. Haslam and as economic and community development commissioner in the Haslam administration. Mrs. Black represents the 6th congressional district of Tennessee in Congress.

Also in attendance were Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, a candidate for the second congressional seat now held by Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., who is not running for re-election; state Rep. Jimmy Matlock, R-Lenoir City, who is running for the second congressional seat; Jason Emert, also a candidate for the second congressional seat; Navy veteran Vito Sagliano, who, too, is running for the second congressional seat; state Sen. Becky Duncan Massey, R-Knoxville; Republican state representatives Bill Dunn, Roger Kane, who is running for Knox County Clerk, Jason Zachary, and Jeremy Faison; Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank; and Campbell County Mayor E.L. Morton.

Mrs. Dunn told those in attendance that in addition to celebrating life, they were there to celebrate major political and court victories such as a new U.S. Supreme Court justice and the first president to ever address the national March for Life.

But she underscored the point that they also were there to mourn the loss of more than 60 million unborn children since 1973 and to pray for those who have been wounded by abortion and are now mourning their own children.

“We are here to cry out for mercy for our nation that we have allowed legalized abortion in our land for 45 years and we ask God to give us the strength, wisdom, and guidance to bring it to an end,” she said.

“We also come to celebrate. We celebrate that nationally abortion numbers are declining. We celebrate the fact that in Tennessee, we have pro-life majorities in the state senate and state house and that seven of our nine congressional districts are pro-life,” Mrs. Dunn added. ■

Federal court of appeals upholds Amendment 1, strikes down Planned Parenthood challenge

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ro-life supporters in Tennessee scored a major victory Jan. 9 when the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower-court order and ruled the state’s recent constitutional amendment on abortion is legally binding.

In a 27-page opinion, 6th Circuit judges ruled that Amendment 1, approved by Tennessee voters in 2014, stands as written and can take effect.

The judges said the vote-counting method used by Tennessee in the Nov. 4, 2014, state election was reasonable and constitutional.

“The subject matter of Amendment 1, touching on abortion rights, is politically sensitive and controversial.

The amendment’s adoption was closely contested in the 2014 election and, though it appeared to have been approved by the electorate (approximately 53 percent of the votes cast), its status has remained unresolved pending this appeal. In this litigation, treating matters of process, the issues raised have been fully aired and vigorously disputed. Although the subject of abortion rights will continue to be controversial in Tennessee and across our nation, it is time for uncertainty surrounding the people’s 2014 approval and ratification of

A18 n FEBRUARY 4, 2018

Amendment 1 to be put to rest,” the 6th Circuit judges wrote.

Eight voters opposing Amendment 1, including the former board chair for Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee, filed suit in federal court on Nov. 7, 2014, to challenge the voting results. They claimed the process used by the state to tally votes was unconstitutional.

Amendment 1, which was ratified by 52.6 percent of Tennessee voters in the November 2014 election, added language to the Tennessee Constitution empowering the state legislature to enact, amend, or repeal state statutes on abortion.

The amendment was placed on the ballot by the Tennessee General Assembly, and as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment, Amendment 1 had to earn a majority of votes of those voting on the amendment as well as a majority of votes from those casting ballots for governor to take effect.

Based on election results, 728,751 votes were cast for Amendment 1.

Opposition to the measure was 47.4 percent, or 656,427 votes. To become law, the amendment had to be approved by 50 percent of voters casting ballots in the governor’s race. ■ www.di o k no x .o rg

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