Church Background: Entry Doors

Have ever noticed that we have two sets of main doors entering our Gathering Space. We can come into church through the East or the West doors. When we were designing the church, it became apparent that because we seat 900 people, we needed to provide 300 parking spaces. The only way was to have parking on both the East side and the West side of the school. Two parking lots led to two main entrances. It has worked out so we don’t enter church walking alongside others, but instead we see other parishioners coming in the facing set of doors. We see one another and we often stop to visit in our Gathering Space. This greeting of others and joining in conversation builds our faith community. Having two entrance doors has led to more interaction and more fellowship in our parish. It is a reason that we are known as a “welcoming” community.

Church Background: Picking Materials

Members of the design committee visited many churches and made note of what we liked and what ideas we would not use in our new church. We contracted with Ware and Associates of Rockford to be our architects, and Father John Buscemi to be our liturgical consultant. In our meetings, we decided that the church should look like the homes we lived in. We wanted to use wood, brick, and glass to make the church space beautiful and comfortable. We loved stained glass, but our budget didn’t allow for it. We especially wanted good “sight lines”. So, our church design puts the front pews only 20 feet from the priest during Mass. And the last pews are only 90 feet away from the presider. At this distance, the worshipper can see the facial expressions of the priest and vice versa. This led to our almost semi-circle design of our seating.

Church Background Series: The Design Committee

In 1985, Father Richard Valker was pastor as it was becoming very clear that we needed a larger church. We had been saying Mass in our second church space which was in the school building, where the school offices, and kindergarten classrooms are now. Father asked a group of about 10 to research the need for a church and the possibility that our parish could support a building campaign. We did a lot of research on the possibilities that our corner of Lake County would have continued population growth. As we look back, we see that the growth of the area was even more than we anticipated. So we contacted the Archdiocese to let them know we would be designing and building a new church building.

Church Background Series: Our Altar

We dedicated our church in 1991 when Cardinal Joseph Bernardin said Mass in the new building. It was a great event. The Cardinal went to the 4 walls of the church and used Sacred Chrism to anoint four crosses hanging on the walls. Then he went to the altar. It had never been used before and was completely bare, no cloths or candles. He took the cruet of Sacred Chrism, pushed up the sleeves of his chasuble, then poured a pool of Chrism on the altar the size of a dinner plate. He placed his hands in the oil and rubbed the entire top of our altar with the Chrism. Thus, our new altar was blessed and made ready to hold the Body and Blood of Christ at our Masses.