Belvidere Daily Republican: St. James has a special reason to celebrate this season

 

Belvidere Daily Republican

St. James has a special reason to celebrate this season

By Tricia Goecks
Editor
After 49 long weeks of Mass in the gymnasium at St. James Catholic Church, the parishioners will finally have the opportunity to celebrate Mass inside the newl...y remodeled church at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 18. Bishop David Molloy will celebrate the rededication of the church along with Father Brian Geary.
The Advent season is a joyous time of year for Christians as they prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth. And for the faithful at St. James, they will also celebrate the rebirth of their church during its sesquicentennial year.
“It will be a tremendous blessing. We set this hard date of Dec. 18 a couple of months ago and it looks like we are going to make it. We have been in this gym for 49 weeks. It is hard to worship in a gym. We couldn’t imagine missing Christmas in our church,” Geary said. “We worked very strenuously to finish the church before Christmas.”
Church leaders worked with Larson & Darby Architects to design the $6.4 million project. Rockford Structures was the contractor of the project. We worked with “Arrow Electric, Miller Engineering, Air Temp Services, Combined Painting and Taping, Packard Excavating, Jack Hall Contractor, M&R Millwork, Bossler Construction, Nelson Carlson Mechanical, Nelson Fire Protection, Northern Illinois Terrazzo and Tile, ARC Design, and Swanson Floor Covering,” project manager Rick Kluber from Rockford Structures said. “I am afraid I am missing somebody. There are a lot of people involved.”
“Rockford Structures has been excellent. Easy to work with and very professional,” Geary said.
Parishioners worked alongside the contractors to help with the construction. “The contractor owner (Nathan Heinrich) said he had never worked on a project where there were so many volunteers,” Geary said and described himself as being humbled by the generosity of the volunteers who toiled both in the construction as in the kitchen. “Sometimes you get some volunteers and they see the workers and they say ’you do it. It’s too much.’ They have worked tirelessly from January to today. Without our volunteers we could not have accomplished this.”
“There is a pride for the members in doing much of the work themselves,” Kluber added.
Through the construction project, the capacity of the church increased from 325 to over 800 people. Columns supporting the choir loft represent where the demolished wall once stood.
Parishioners removed the stained glass windows from the demolished wall and preserved them by removing the protective plexiglass covering and replacing it with a clear UV covering and replacing the frame. “The president of the contractor was impressed that people who are unskilled in stained glass artistry could do such a wonderful job. I cannot say enough about the Paul family,” Geary said. “They donated their time and love for the church in a most beautiful way of removing, restoring and securing in new framing of the stained glass windows for future generations of Catholics.”
“What will strike them most powerfully is the beautiful artwork inside,” Geary said. “The church has always been a patron of the arts. The church will have four original oil on canvas mural paintings.” “Beauty is one of God’s transcendental qualities. Beauty is something that should lead us to God. I think people will be awestruck with the beauty of this artwork. It should draw their hearts and minds to God.”
The focal point will be The Transfiguration. The 14’6” x 7’ mural was suggested by liturgical architect Joe Winkelmann from Larson & Darby. The mural was inspired by paintings by Raphael and Gustave Dore. “They are two of the most important pieces in the history of art of the Transfiguration,” Geary said.
In a city of murals, it is fitting that the centerpiece of the altar is a mural. The mural represents when Jesus took James, Peter and John to pray at Mount Tabor prior to his death. While Jesus prayed, his clothes turned a dazzling white and Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke to Jesus.
In Dore’s masterpiece, James is seen shielding his eyes from the brilliant light. “The artist recommended, with our direction, to lower James’ arm and turn his head to point to us that the transfigured Jesus that they saw on Tabor is now in the Tabernacle. We positioned the Tabernacle to find its end where James is pointing. He is also telling us the same transfigured Jesus he saw on the mountain is now in the Tabernacle,” Geary said. “That is where we can find our transfigured glory.”
Rays of light on the mural emanate from where the Tabernacle is located. “So it looks like James is being lit by the Tabernacle,” artist Craig Gallagher from Church Interiors added. Gallagher and Al Wormka have been responsible for the murals of The Transfiguration, Lady of Guadalupe and Divine Mercy, the stencil work as well as the faux stone work on the interior of the church.
The mural includes the symbols of Saints James, John the Evangelist and Peter. James includes both the shell and gourd. John includes the eagle, and Peter is depicted with keys. “The designer added these symbols to help tell the story,” Gallagher said.
Geary finds inspiration from the missionary story of Saint James who traveled to what Santiago de Compostela Spain in what was at that time considered to be the end of the earth. “He is associated with the pilgrim staff with a gourd. He was courageous in the midst of persecution and fearless in his love for Christ and one who had a missionary spirit which we need so desperately today,” Geary said. “Recent popes have said that mission fields are not somewhere across the world in Papua New Guinea or Calcutta. They are right here where vast numbers of believing Catholics are not practicing their faith.”
“James is our example to be a missionary again to realize that the mission that Christ trusted each of us is to make disciples. We need to bring people back to the faith.”
Among the changes to St. James church is the choir loft that can seat 175 people. With limited space in the gym during the past year, Masses at St. James have been without music. Geary looked forward to having music again with the liturgy. He recently announced that the church hired Christopher Aune as the musical director. Aune will begin in mid-January.
Parishioners will be relieved to know that among the changes at the church is the installation of a bathroom on the first floor. (No pun intended...just a fortunate coincidence.)
“It has been fun to see the church slowly take shape and come to life,” Gallagher said. “Now it feels like a sacred space.

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