Becoming-church-faith-gr

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W

hen is a church a Church?

It’s almost like asking the question, “When is a house a home?”

The answer isn’t an ancient riddle or an issue of semantics.

“A church is Church when its people come together to encounter and worship God and to help others to experience the goodness of God,” said Reverend Tom Simons, pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish, Norton Shores.

And just like people adorn a home to make it their own, have it blessed and fill it with the moments that make memories, so too do the people who are Church.

In our Catholic tradition, the final step of a church becoming Church is called the Rite of Dedication of a Church and an Altar.

“Church is a place, but most of all it is people,” according to Father Simons, who is a recognized authority on this Catholic ritual.

In 1998, he published Holy People, Holy Place: Rites for the Church’s House, a leading resource used today by parishes around the globe when dedicating a church building.

Through the centuries, the Catholic faith has evolved rich, sometimes complex customs for dedicating new or renovated church buildings. From the very beginning, the rite served to designate facilities – once used as public, non-religious spaces – as places set apart for worshipping God. The rite was reexamined and simplified as a result of Vatican II – a return, in a sense, to its original simplicity.

Just as moving into a new home is a major event, so too is moving into a new place of worship.

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Becoming a Church A need for a resource The idea for a book about the Rite of Dedication sprung from necessity. As the founding director of the diocesan office for Worship and the Institute for Worship, Father Simons would give presentations and counsel to parish leaders who were building or renovating churches.

People wanted to know: How do we dedicate this new or renovated church?

Building committees, pastoral staff members and parish priests had many questions.

But there was a dilemma: “No single resource about the rite existed in English,” Father Simons said.

He would “piece-meal” together information which was serviceable, but not comprehensive.

In the early 1990s, he began to do

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research on the rite while serving as executive director of the National Federation of Priests’ Councils. From his Chicago-based office, he contacted scholars throughout the world. These conversations led him to Rome where the majority of documents and texts exist on the subject.

During a 1996 sabbatical, Father Simons immersed himself in research and writing in Rome. He poured over resources at the Liturgical Institute at St. Anselm and the archives of the Vatican’s Congregation for Worship.

He got to know liturgists, theologians and other scholars, including a Spanish priest, Reverend Ignazio Calabuig, OSM, rector of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of the Marianum.

Father Calabuig, now deceased, served

by Molly Klimas | photos by Kathy Denton

Below: Father Tom Simons, pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish, in Norton Shores, and the author of Holy People, Holy Place: Rites for the Church’s House, a leading resource used today by parishes around the globe when dedication a church building.

Armed with a mountain of research, Father Simons went to Southern California where he spent more than a month writing. He was disciplined. He wrote in the morning, took a break in the afternoon and wrote again in the evening.

calls and requests for advice from all over the country and the world.

Anatomy of a rite

as a leading member of the working group that prepared the Latin edition of the rite published in 1977. The elderly priest became a mentor to Father Simons.

“So instrumental was his work in the ordering of the rite and the composition of original texts that he rightly merits the title ‘father of the post-Vatican II rite of dedication,’” Father Simons wrote in the acknowledgements section of his book.

Father Simons also studied with Reverend Luke Chengalikavill, OSB, who completed his doctoral thesis on the Rite of Dedication. Father Chengalikvill’s death several

years ago marked the passing of another great scholar of the rite.

Armed with a mountain of research, Father Simons went to Southern California where he spent more than a month writing. He was disciplined: He wrote in the morning, took a break in the afternoon and wrote again in the evening.

The completed book explores the history of the rite and offers a complete guide to celebrating the sacred ritual.

A decade since being published by Liturgy Training Publications, Holy People, Holy Place is still the only book of its kind in English and is widely used. Father Simons receives

Today’s practice of the rite is rooted in three documents: the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the first document of the Second Vatican Council; a subsequent document, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church; and the Dedication of a Church and an Altar, published on Pentecost in 1977.

Holy People, Holy Place is a comprehensive examination of the post-Vatican II theology of Church as expressed through the physical building. Vatican II simplified many Catholic rituals, including the Rite of Dedication.

“Over years and centuries, the original simplicity of the rite became covered up, much like ivy clinging to brick,” Father Simons said.

“While it may have been beautiful, sometimes you need to cut away what’s ‘grown over’ to get back to the original.”

Most early Christians worshipped in secrecy – in people’s homes – to avoid discovery and persecution. But in 313, Constantine, the Roman Emperor who became known as Constantine the Great for his conversion to Christianity, issued the Edict of Milan proclaiming religious toleration. Christians were free to worship openly.

Basilicas (known as kingly or royal buildings) became the first public places of worship.

Words to know • Ecclesiology – the theology of what it means to be the Church • Domus ecclesiae – Latin for “house of the Church” • Domus Dei – Latin for “house of God”

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Stained-glass windows and our faith Stained-glass windows in churches were more than decorative to early Christians: They were considered the “poor man’s Bible” or “lessons” in glass – silent homilies – for those who couldn’t read or afford a Bible. “Stained-glass windows are the stories of our faith,” Father Simons said.

Above: Father Simons and Mark Robillard, maintenance director at St. Francis de Sales Parish, look over blueprints of St. Francis de Sales Church, which is undergoing utility improvements and renovations.

“At the time, they were civic centers, large and rectangular in shape, with a curved apse,” Father Simons explained (cathedrals, in the cruciform shape, would be built centuries later). “So, when Constantine granted freedom to worship, these buildings provided the space to accommodate an influx of Christians.”

But these secular buildings needed to be made into “holy” spaces. And so, the Rite of Dedication was born.

At first, the celebration of the Eucharist served to dedicate the church. Then, two models of the rite emerged in addition to the Eucharistic celebration: • A funerary model, which involved interring relics • An initiating model, in which the building was treated like a catechumen With the funerary model, relics (bones or some remains) of a saint or martyr were buried under or placed inside the altar – the custom traces to times when some Christians worshipped at martyrs’ tombs or in the catacombs (although the latter has been disputed as a regular meeting place for early Christians). The sepulcher (tomb) typically would serve as the altar.

With the initiating model, the bishop would baptize the building – sprinkle it with water and anoint it with oil – much like what happens when a person is welcomed into the Catholic faith.

Over time, the two models merged and additional rituals were added. One ritual involved tracing the alphabet in sand or ashes in Greek and Latin before entering the building – an ancient practice of marking property. Another ritual involved walking around the building three times – symbolic of the Holy Trinity – and sprinkling the edifice with water.

Ironically, Rome was usually the last place to adopt various practices, Father Simons said. “Gaul (France), Spain and Germany led the way.”

The rite eventually became a day-long process that continued from the 14th century until the early 1960s.

Sometimes, by the time the bishop finished the Rite of Dedication, he would be too exhausted to celebrate the Liturgy of the Eucharist and would delegate the pastor to complete the rite, although he would remain in attendance.

Vatican II ushered in a return to simplicity: a return to the rite within the celebration of the Eucharist.

The structure of the rite

Above: Father Simons and Kim Brush, parish secretary at St. Francis de Sales, reminisce about the current church’s more than 40 year history.

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There are four parts to the post-Vatican II Rite of Dedication, which are described more fully in Father Simons’ book.

“The rite is like a symphony: it has distinct movements or parts, and yet it’s part of a whole that is beautiful and complete,” Father Simons said.

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Introductory Rites

Above and below: Photos on this page were taken during the dedication of St. Sebastian Church in Byron Center in 2007.

The parish community gathers at the building with the bishop, who is the chief shepherd of this local flock. Those involved in the planning, design and construction of the church present the bishop with the keys, plans and legal documents as a gesture of transference of ownership. The bishop sprinkles the entry way as well as the people with holy water. Then, the bishop leads the way into the church as the opening hymn is sung. An opening prayer concludes this first part.

Liturgy of the Word The ambo (lectern) is dedicated by its use. The first reading is from the book of Nehemiah (8:1-4a, 5-6, 8-10). “In it, the people of Israel who have returned from captivity gather together and ask the scribe Ezra to take up the Book of the Law of Moses and read it to the assembly … this event signified the birth of Judaism which, in a sense, began with the rebuilding of the Temple … ”, Father Simons wrote in his book. A New Testament reading, psalm and the Gospel follow, with a larger selection of texts.

The bishop’s homily and the Creed are part of this section of the rite.

Prayer of Dedication and the Anointings The Litany of Saints and the depositing of relics occur (depositing relics is not a requirement). A Prayer of Dedication is said. Then, the bishop anoints the altar and interior walls (as shown on this page) of the church with chrism, a reminder that we too are anointed at baptism. The altar and the Church are incensed, symbolic of prayer rising up to God. The altar is dressed in white, like a baptismal robe, and then illuminated with a candle – similar to a catechumen candle – and smaller dedication candles. The dedication candles number either four - are either four candles representing the four cardinal directions or 12 for the Twelve Apostles. The Prayers of the Faithful conclude the third part.

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The multitude of styles of churches throughout the world show the creative giftedness that God has bestowed on us.

Liturgy of the Eucharist The Preparation of the Gifts occurs, and then the Eucharistic Prayer is said with a special preface. After Holy Communion, the bishop inaugurates the Blessed Sacrament chapel area of the church.

This fourth part and the rite itself conclude with the closing prayer, blessing and recessional.

Church: a living symbol Throughout history, all kinds of shapes and styles of churches have emerged.

The Catholic Church today does not endorse one particular style; in fact, the church embraces diversity as a reflection of God’s people.

“The multitude of styles of churches throughout the world show the creative giftedness that God has bestowed on us,” Father Simons said.

Early churches and cathedrals were the center of the community and were intended to “touch the heavens” – they were the skyscrapers of their times.

Churches served – and continue to serve – as more than places of worship.

They are soup kitchens, food pantries, places of social gathering. They are in some ways hearth and home, and they are places of hope and outreach to the wider community. They also often promote and celebrate the arts.

Church is one more very important thing – the most important thing of all: It is Jesus Christ, who is the foundation and cornerstone.

“The true temple of God is Jesus. The church is the body of Christ made of living stones …” Father Simons wrote.

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Above: A statue of Mary at the sanctuary door at St. Francis de Sales Church; the artist’s design leads one’s eye to the altar, which symbolizes Jesus Christ.

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