Great Joy! St Joseph's Chelsea Reopened
Last night I had the great pleasure of attending the blessing of the restored Church of St Joseph at Chelsea. Fr Greg Pritchard and his parish were devastated when their church was burnt by arsonists last year, but have been working hard at the restoration work. The restored church is very beautiful--simple basilica, with neat clear lines, added sanctuary lamps, two new shrines to Our Lady and St Joseph, prominant central shrine for the reservation of the blessed sacrament. I wish I had thought to take my camera last night so I could have posted a picture or two--because the result is marvellous.
The blessing was done by Bishop Peter Elliot, so it was Novus Ordo at its best. One special surprise for me was to find that Fr Pritchard had included my Asperges hymn which was sung when the walls of the church were being blessed with holy water.
posted by Schütz @ 9:31 am
3 Comments
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3 Comments:
Was oil put on the walls and was ash put on the floor? Is this still done when a church is cosecrated?
No, no, this wasn't the consecration of the Church, it was just a blessing. The consecration has to wait until the main altar is installed which will take another 12-18 months (donations still coming in). It will be a very substantial piece of stone when ready. At the moment, only a temporary altar (a small wooden affair) is being used. Essentially, the consecration of a Church is a consecration of an altar, rather than of the building per se.
Deo gratias!
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