ARTICLES

Who Knows What Will Come Next?

St. Joseph Basilica Renovation Meets the '70s

BY ERIK KEILHOLTZ

The historic St. Joseph's Basilica in Alameda is slated for renovation, and not all of the parishioners are enthused.

There is one thing that just about everyone agrees on about St. Joseph's: it needs renovation. The beautiful mission-style church, with its ample architectural detail, lovely stained-glass windows, and Spanish-tinged lines, has been the victim of piecemeal accretions in order to accommodate the standard American celebration of the Novus Ordo mass.

In addition to changes mandated by the new liturgical styles, hideous carpeting, banal and garish wall hangings over the back of the high altar, and a chandelier that would be more at home in the grand parlor of one of the stately Victorian mansions in the surrounding area, have found their way into the interior. Various and sundry amateur and student art projects have also contributed to the hodgepodge look of what was once (judging from old photographs) a fine piece of ecclesial architecture. Chipped and worn paint add a patina of neglect.

The floor plan of the church, built in 1922 after fire claimed the old church three years earlier, follows the standard cruciform layout that has been a standard part of the Latin rite for centuries. Pews that would have faced the side altars are oriented towards the center, a common practice in an era when every Mass of the day is celebrated on the main altar.

Recognizing the need for a major overhaul and having recently received a "generous bequest" for the project, the St. Joseph's Basilica parish has formed a Worship Space Committee to direct the renovation.

While the official word is that they are only in the exploratory stages, the parish has hired San Francisco-based John Goldman of Goldman Architects to draft plans for the renovation. In the words of the committee's invitation to parish faithful to review plan options for the basilica, "[the firm] was chosen because their expertise renovating and designing sacred spaces enables them to take the beauty and integrity of existing architectural details into consideration."

According to a letter to parishioners announcing a February 21 parish meeting on the proposed renovation, the new design includes moving the altar into the middle of the nave "to allow most worshipers to be within 50 feet of the celebrant." The "altar space will be raised up 2 steps, with a ramp for handicap access so that all may participate in the liturgy." As for seating, "the first rows may be chairs arranged in arcs around the altar but in the rear ... the existing pews would stay." This arrangement has the advantage of "flexibility, so that intimate Masses and gatherings have everyone close in the round area of chairs." The Blessed Sacrament Chapel would remain in the area behind what would be the sanctuary in a traditional-design church.

John Goldman, a specialist in church architecture, has designed numerous churches in the Bay Area and around the nation. From the Episcopalian Church of St. Gregory Nyssen in San Francisco, which features the altar in the center of a rotunda, surrounded by a sprung wooden dance floor with integral labyrinth, to renovations of Most Holy Redeemer parish in San Francisco, to the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Assumption to the circular orientation of the renovated Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Oakland (done with the consultation of Father Richard Vosko), Goldman has made a noticeable mark on ecclesial architecture in the Bay Area.

The proposed changes to St. Joseph's Basilica, as described in the letter to the parishioners, are "being made with the careful consideration of the recommendations of Vatican II, Church documents about worship space, and the expressed needs of our own parishioners and ministries both at this time and from previous renovation committees and commissions." Since there is next to nothing about the layout of churches in the actual texts of the Second Vatican Council, and the letter admitted that the turnout for the December 5, 2005 meeting was small, the guiding light must be primarily other "church documents about worship space."

The 1970s-era clichés that are ensconced in the proposed renovation suggest their source; the 1977 pamphlet, Environment and Art in Catholic Worship, as well as the more orthodox document, Built of Living Stones (approved by the U.S. bishops in 2000) are providing the guides for the project.

Environment and Art is a product of the U.S. bishops' committee on the liturgy and was, according to noted church architect Duncan Stroik in an article he wrote for The Catholic Liturgical Library, "never voted on by the American Bishops' conference and holds no canonical weight, is based more on the principles of Modernist architecture than on Roman Catholic teaching, or her patrimony of sacred architecture." (The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' website confirms this; "Environment and Art in Catholic Worship does not have the force of law in and of itself," it says. "It is not particular law for the dioceses of the United States of America, but a commentary on that law by the Committee for the Liturgy.") Stroik further points out that, "among [the document's] weaknesses is an overemphasis on a congregational view of the Church, an antagonism towards history and tradition, and a strident iconoclasm."

While the tabernacle's placement in the basilica might be a nod to Built of Living Stones, the rest of the design well fits Stroik's description.

St. Joseph's associate pastor, Sister Toni Longo, insists that, in spite of the fact that an architect has been hired, plans have been drawn up, and the process of selling the renovation to the parish is well underway, there is nothing but preliminary exploration going on.

Goldman, on the other hand, described the process as much further along, saying "we have just come out of the first design phase. We have presented about six different schemes, did a series of presentations with the community, and they are close to coming to a consensus on one of the plans."

Just what kind of consensus is part of the question that a group of parishioners is wondering about.

According to Goldman, "we have a programming process where we involve the whole community: we find out what they do over the course of a year in their community, both now and what they would like to see happen. We find out all their functional requirements, and we design spaces and remodel spaces to support what they do. We spend time worshiping with the congregation/client and work with what we observe there."

"We have worked with liturgical consultants," continued Goldman, "and have learned a lot from them."

Readers who have followed the course of contemporary church renovation schemes will notice a pattern that is strikingly similar to what has happened elsewhere: an almost fully fleshed-out scheme is drawn up by a small committee, then proposed to the parish in a series of meetings that claim to solicit opinions from the faithful.

This process is, according to Michael Rose, "a wonderful template they come up with for them to say these ideas came from the parish." Rose, the author of several books on church architecture, including The Renovation Manipulation, a well-documented look at how these projects are foisted (at great cost to the parish and great profit to the highly paid liturgical consultants), points out that often even the members of the committee end up disappointed with the results.

"I have encountered hundreds of people who were active and supportive of these projects and were appalled afterwards," Rose told me in a telephone interview. "They realize that they have been duped, and, in the end, don't like what they see. [During the process] they were convinced by the liturgical consultant that the Church requires all of these things, like the semi-circular seating, the removal of the Blessed Sacrament, the removal of kneelers, etc., which of course we know that it doesn't. Often, there is a change of heart that goes on, sometimes in the middle of the process, but sometimes it is afterwards."

According to Rose, not only do the parishioners feel manipulated, but often the architects are pressured to produce what they know is inferior work.

"I don't know this particular architect [Goldman]," said Rose, "but I have had calls from many architects who also say that while they like the fee, they felt that they were forced to produce what they know is terrible design."

Resistance to these renovation schemes is difficult, but some parishes have been able to quash drastic, anti-historical renovations. According to Rose, "the important thing is that the bishop was convinced that these renovations were not doing anybody any good, but often it is the bishop who is the driving force behind it."

Besides the enormous financial cost of these renovations, the human cost is also high. Rose points out that "there is usually a certain group of parishioners who couldn't care less, but they will get behind the priest and the bishop no matter what. But there are usually parishioners who resist, and they usually end up marginalized, and they usually end up leaving the parish altogether."

Already this human cost is being felt among dissatisfied parishioners at St. Joseph's. Of the several parishioners I spoke to in preparing this article, none were willing to be openly quoted. "I don't want the priest or his associates coming over here and chewing me out for daring to publicly disagree with these plans," said one parishioner.

"Of course," offered a former parishioner who now attends Mass at another church, "the Sacred Heart priests [the congregation that serves the basilica] are a declining order and could not find one of their own to serve as a replacement for the current pastor who is ailing, so who knows what will come next? Even though they say in the letter that 'we don't want to waste any money in work that will have to be redone in the future,' this 1970s stuff they want to do will probably have to come out sooner than later, especially if a more vigorous order comes in."

A similar thought was expressed by another parishioner: "in light of the fact that the United States bishops' committee on the liturgy is drafting a replacement for Environment and Art in Catholic Worship, they are probably rushing [the renovation] to get it in before the requirements are laid out."

Calls to Bishop Vigneron's office were not returned, but according to Sister Longo, the parish has not submitted anything officially to the chancery yet. "In fact," said Longo, "they keep sending us reminders that anything we do has to be approved by them first."

Monsignor Wagner, the pastor from 1957 to 1983, was responsible for tremendous growth and life in the parish, as well as for getting the church elevated to the dignity of a minor basilica, meaning that the church has a special connection to the Holy Father, with high expectations of outstanding liturgical music, obedience to the magisterium, and unwavering devotion to the Catholic faith.

"From Monsignor's retirement to the present day," a former parishioner told us, "there has been a steady decline in teaching the Faith. These renovations will just cap it all."

RENOVATION RESOURCES

Parishioners who want to learn more about contemporary church renovations may read Michael Rose's three books on church architecture: The Renovation Manipulation, which documents the renovation process, mostly in a question and answer form; Ugly as Sin, which demonstrates why most modern architectural ideas are not appropriate for Catholic worship; and Interiors of Glory, which is a history of church architecture and a guide for understanding its organic development.

For an article by a canonist on Environment and Art in Catholic Worship, see www.ewtn.com.

For an article on the character of a minor basilica, which is more focused on music but offers an idea of the dignity implied in this institution, see www.catholicliturgy.com.

TOP