Did You Know?
Parish News

 

​​

​

​​

​

​

​

​

​

​

For about 40 years, we have had a temporary altar in use for the celebration of mass at Sacred Heart church. The temporary altar was introduced in line with the renewal and reform of the liturgy which came from the Second Vatican Council, and which had as its aim greater understanding and participation in the liturgy by all the baptised. Besides the simplification of the mass and the return to the vernacular, the Pope and the world’s bishops asked that each church had a freestanding altar around which the church could gather for the celebration of the mass. A permanent altar was not put in place 40 years ago as the design of a worthy altar for our church was not and is still not easy.

As we approach the Jubilee year of 2025, and focus on building beauty belonging and truth, it seems a great time to finish the re-ordering of the sanctuary with a permanent fixed altar and lectern.

The principles which must guide the design are these:

• The altar must be fixed and permanent, we are designing and installing something that will not be changed, so it must be right.

• The freestanding altar in the middle of the sanctuary is the liturgical and architectural centre point of the church (even though the tabernacle is the centre of devotional focus). This centrality and importance should be plain to all who enter the church. The altar represents Christ.

• Ideally the top of the altar should be stone but if necessary, it could be high quality wood.

• Any changes and additions should be in harmony with the overall design of the sanctuary and church. They should not harm any elements of existing importance. Of note is especially the ornate sanctuary floor.

• It is no longer necessary to place relics in an altar, but if they are included, they must go under not in the table (mensa) of the altar.

• To make it an altar the bishop must consecrate it. Because our temporary altar is temporary, it was never consecrated.

Four alternative designs for altars follow, the temperature of the parish will be taken on which design direction(s) should be pursued. This is not the end of the process, just a stage on the way. 

The first three designs try as requested by the Historic Churches Committee to expose as much of the sanctuary floor as possible.

 

​

Design 1

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Design 1 is inspired by the ornate ironwork above the sanctuary. The top would be natural stone. The yellow in the images represents gold leaf.

 

Design 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Design 2 takes its inspiration from the different woods used in the sanctuary floor.

​

Design 3

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Design 3 is a less ornate version of design 1. Again, the yellow represents gold leaf. The number of elements have been reduced enabling the remaining ones to be bolder and so give the altar more presence as well as simplicity

 

​Design 4

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​Design 4 would incorporate three stone panels which come from the original high altar before it had the green marble added. They show three of the sacraments. The other four sacrament panels are still around the old high altar. Unusually the central panel in the original altar was the sacrament of mercy: the sacrament of forgiveness rather than the eucharist as one would expect. This is probably because the dedication of the church is to the Sacred Heart which is the mercy of God. Once again this panel would be the centre and front of our high altar. The panels are in good condition but they need cleaning.

​

Design 4 is a mixture of marble and natural stone to match the existing marble and stone of the old high altar and in the sanctuary and incorporating the 3 original altar panels now stored in the parish garden, shown above.

The decorative roundel in the ornate floor which the solid altar would cover would be relocated to the top step either in front of Our Lady’s altar or the old high altar.

Design 4 incorporates 3 existing carved stone panels from the original high altar before it had the green front, and presently are in the parish garden. The panels are in good condition but need cleaning. The other 4 matching sacrament panels are still in the sanctuary around the old high altar.

Design 4 takes a different approach from that recommended by the Historic Churches Committee to expose as much of the sanctuary floor as possible, but it still applies the fundamental ideals to which the Committee works, which is to ensure both that our building heritage is preserved and that churches are adapted in line with the guidance issued by the bishops of England and Wales.

Design 4 puts more weight on the guidance of the bishops that the altar should be clearly seen to be what it is as the most important focus in the church, and takes a different approach to protecting the floor by lifting and relocating the area which would be covered. Without testing this, we do not know what HCC would think of this.

​

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

​