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It Doesn't Matter What They Think

PARISHIONERS PROTEST PROPOSED REVOVATION

By Maggie Garcia

Our Lady of Peace parish in Sepulveda is proposing to renovate its church building in accordance with Cardinal Mahony's pastoral letter on the liturgy, Gather Faithfully Together. Recently, the pastor, Father John Keese, has held a series of meetings to receive input from his parishioners on the renovation, and not all are happy. Some parishioners fear that the renovation will change their church so drastically that they will not recognize it. One parishioner told the Mission about other renovations the archdiocese has made to churches throughout the San Fernando Valley since the Northridge earthquake of 1994. This parishioner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, pointed out Mary Immaculate parish as a prime example of what the archdiocese is doing to churches under the guise of "renovation."

Our Lady of Peace was built in the post World War II building boom that swept California. Built in an era when traditional churches were the norm, its floor plan has the tabernacle in the center of the sanctuary beneath a large crucifix. Statues of the Blessed Mother and the Sacred Heart flank the altar.

When some parishioners learned that the archdiocese was ready to renovate Our Lady of Peace, they became alarmed and attended the meetings held at the parish. These parishioners printed a flyer, posted on the church's door, asking questions, such as "changing our worship space... do we want to?" Additionally, the flyer stated that Father Richard Albarano, head of the archdiocese's Office of Worship, would address the parishioners. Reportedly due to an injury, Father Albarano did not attend the meetings. Instead, the archdiocese sent out two representatives from the Office of Worship, Arthuro Berrigan and Frank Brownstead.

According to Marie, who attends daily Mass at Our Lady of Peace, the November 10 meeting held in the parish hall was not very remarkable. Marie told the Mission that Brownstead quoted at length from a 1977 document, Environment and Art in Catholic Worship, in support the renovation of the church, changes which include putting the altar in the center of the church and placing the pews around the altar. Marie pointed out at the meeting that Enviroment and Art in Catholic Worship had not been approved by either the Vatican or the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Berrigan also said that it was only during the Middle Ages that the practice of the priest facing the altar arose. Again Marie pointed out that facing East was the Church's practice from the very start. Because Marie and others questioned the speaker very closely, it was evident that the pastor was concerned about "the dissidents," as they were called at the last meeting on November 17.

Teesa, who also expressed her views at the November 10 meeting, affirmed what Marie had stated about that meeting. "It's remarkable that they thought the meeting had gotten out of control, because it didn't. All we did was ask questions about the legitimacy of the renovations."

The November 17 meeting was attended by this reporter. Upon arriving, the parishioners were assigned seating on a random basis, loosely broken up by language, either Spanish speaking or English speaking. One parishioner pointed out that a representative from either the finance committee, the parish council or the liturgy committee, was seated at each table. I sat at the Spanish speakers table, with parish secretary, Martha, parish council member, Isidro Mora, as well as four other persons.

The pastor opened the meeting with a prayer, "Where charity and love prevail, God is there." After the prayer, he told the participants that it was imperative that everyone be given a chance to be heard "respectfully" and that all should try and learn from each other.

While the pastor was giving his presentation, someone asked the parish secretary about the opposition to the renovation. The secretary told them, "It doesn't matter what they think, Father is going ahead with the renovation; he's just going through the motions." Yet, the week before the meeting, the parish bulletin stated that in the meetings the parish would be discussing the possibility of renovations.

There was no discussion at the meeting about the renovations. Instead, the pastor told the people that they were to draw pictures of what they thought a church should look like. We were given poster board, markers and Post-it Notes with the words, ambo, choir, altar, chair and pews. We were then to draw our ideal of a church. Afterwards, we were asked to give a presentation on the different drawings produced. About half of the presentations were of traditional churches: altars with tabernacles set in the back of the sanctuary. Whenever a traditional church drawing was presented, the parish secretary would say, "They are describing the present church, that's not what we are supposed to be doing!"

In spite of the secretary's disapproval, the traditional church renditions seemed to draw the most applause from the people. Whenever a traditional church drawing was presented, Father Keefe would ask the table if they were all in agreement. If someone in the group said no, Father Keefe would ask the people who favored worship in the round, "what did they do with the dissenters."

At one table, one woman named Linda, a member of one of the three parish councils, had a computer generated picture of what the new church would look like. Linda pointed out that the picture was similar in design to the new Our Lady of the Angels cathedral.

Not to be deterred by the pastor's attempt at silencing them, the "dissidents" as they were called, reproduced Michael Davies' booklet, Catholic Sanctuary and the Second Vatican Council. In the booklet, Davis outlines how the sanctuary would appear, based solely on the official documents on the liturgy of Vatican II. On December 6, the "dissidents" handed out the booklet to parishioners as they were leaving Mass. There were no incidents. Mike Johnson, a Catholic activist, said that the only contact they had with the priests of the parish was after the 7 a.m. Mass. This was when Father Magna, the Associate Pastor approached them and asked them what they were doing. When handed a copy of the booklet, Father Magna told Johnson that had he contacted the pastor in advance, he would have been given permission to distribute the literature at Mass. Johnson told the Mission that he doubted this would have been the case.

When asked why he was willing to pass out pamphlets at 7 a.m. on a cold morning, Johnson recounted the passage from Isaiah where God is giving Isaiah his mission to preach to Israel, after they have gone astray. Isaiah asks God if this is going to change the people and God replies that no, it really won't change anything. So Isaiah asks why do it and God replies because there is a remnan t among the people who will carry on and rebuild the temple and my people. It's for their sake that God is sending Isaiah. "It's the same at Our Lady of Peace," Johnson told the Mission. "The church building will be gutted and the cardinal will go on with other renovations. But among the people there is a remnant that will one day rebuild the Church and it is for them that we have to continue to fight for the truth."

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