CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- A Jesuit High School in Tampa, Fla., recently dedicated its new chapel, which was beautifully re-designed to encourage devotion to God.<\/p>\n\t\u201cThe Jesuits recognized that the existing chapel was becoming inadequate to the growing liturgical needs and desires of the community,\u201d artist Joel Pidel, who re-designed the chapel, told CNA Feb. 13.<\/p>\n
\tPidel noted \u201cthat greater devotion would be fostered\u201d by transforming the space \u201cinto a place that more fully or evidentially manifested God's beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cBeauty increases devotion,\u201d he added, \u201cbeauty is the 'natural' analog of grace, a continual reminder that everything is gift, and that our every response should be one of gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe newly renovated residence chapel for the community teaching at Jesuit High School, as well as the larger school community, was dedicated Jan. 5 after a little more than a year's work.<\/p>\n
\tThe chapel was originally built in the early 1960s, and is an octagonal room which had no clearly marked sanctuary, limited seating space without pews, and dark brown walls. The renovation features a larger space with a clearly demarcated sanctuary, a prominent tabernacle and altar, a large 19th century stained glass window, elegant wooden pews, and numerous references to the Society of Jesus.<\/p>\n
\tFather Richard Hermes, president of Jesuit High School, told CNA Feb. 15 that the chapel had been \u201caltered from its original design to accommodate the new Missal (of 1969), but then also just to accommodate deteriorating liturgical sensibilities, where nobody kneels.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe said the remodel was a \u201cgreat opportunity\u201d to give the chapel \u201can architecture in communion with the Church.\u201d His own understanding of Church liturgy and architecture has been influenced by the works of Pope Benedict, he said.<\/p>\n
\tPidel said the remodel \u201cwas to be a visible response to the Holy Father's inauguration of the year of faith in a manner which would both demonstrate and orient the priorities of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tFr. Hermes said he wanted the new chapel to \u201cbespeak the sacred. When you walk in there, you're gonna know this is a sacred space and a holy chapel\u2026the main vision was sacred space, and nobility, and make it a place where not only Mass is celebrated, but devotions, the rosary or stations of the Cross.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe said the students have been \u201cawestruck\u201d by the beauty of the chapel, and have commented on the beauty of the new stations of the Cross, and he sees this as an opportunity to \u201clet's get a group together and pray the stations\u201d on Fridays.<\/p>\n
\tPidel said that beauty is a \u201csafeguard of gratuity over-against every functionalism or reductionism\u201d that cannot be mistaken for \u201cmere aesthetics.\u201d He said, \u201csacred art and architecture are called to bear specific witness by calling the individual and the community to a universal act of gratitude, in the imitation of Christ, through the highly personal, specific, ritualized form of the liturgy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIt was important for him to create a beautiful chapel because \u201ca chapel is the house of God, not merely the house of the people of God, and the desire for a beautiful chapel should arise out of gratitude to the God who has deigned to make his dwelling with us.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe Faith, like the Truth to which it attains, is beautiful, and so a chapel which does not manifest this beauty does not efficaciously represent the Faith of which it is its architectural image, regardless of whether or not it is functionally adequate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tA chapel, he said, should be beautiful because it \u201cboth manifests and facilitates our encounter with the Living God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe made reference to the 20th century theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, who wrote that the man who \u201csneers\u201d at beauty \u201ccan no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPidel was inspired by the great Jesuit churches in the baroque tradition, particularly the Jesuits' Roman novitiate chapel, including an \u201carchitectural hierarchy between elements of the nave and sanctuary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe chapel now has an altar rail which provides \u201cvisual and liturgical demarcation\u201d between the nave and sanctuary, so that no-one's roles are confused.<\/p>\n
\tWhen asked if he imagines that Saint Ignatius, the founder of the Society of Jesus, and Our Lady, the Society's queen, are well-pleased with the renovation, Fr. Hermes said, \u201cI devoutly hope so.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cBaroque churches came to be synonymous with the Jesuits, and it's striking how much they engage the senses, how much they lift the mind and heart to God, and how they speak of the communion of saints.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tFr. Hermes concluded, saying that \u201cto the extent that this little chapel takes its humble place within in that liturgical tradition, I think it's very much in line with St. Ignatius and the great history of Jesuit churches,\u00a0 and Jesuit preaching and evangelizing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Tampa, Fla., Feb 17, 2013 \/ 04:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- A Jesuit High School in Tampa, Fla., recently dedicated its new chapel, which was beautifully re-designed to encourage devotion to God.<\/p>\n
\t“The Jesuits recognized that the existing chapel was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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