The pieces have been on site for some weeks, I’m told. The architect and crane came today. I’m on vacation this week, but I came in for a meeting with an engaged couple. I was glad to enjoy one of the highlights of 2020, a completed spire and cross. Here, one of the last pieces goes in:
A lot of people complain about “churches that don’t look like churches.” When they blame Vatican II, they are likely wrong. There are often many reasons. Some are pragmatic: parishes in the US built for education, not liturgy. This was true in my parish.
A second parish was designated for the city of Bremerton in the 1960s. The archbishop instructed the founding pastor to build a school and gym to go with a modest office and rectory. As it was told to me, a reconsideration was accomplished well into construction or shortly after. The other parish had a school also, and perhaps it would be better to change the Holy Trinity sports center into a church. And the next half-century was set with a basketball court retrofitted for Mass.
The last major piece of the puzzle is seating; pews are coming from Texas, and have been delayed as workplace restrictions stretch out the timetable.
The question on many minds: what will the Church (the people, not the building) look like when the pandemic passes. For us, who will gather under the spire and cross?
