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Reconsecration is scheduled for February 2008
We hope you will be able to join us in this wonderful celebration!
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Letter from Fr. Dan - March 6, 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
The day of the ceremony (of the re-consecration on Feb. 3rd) was beautiful, not too cold with clear blue skies. Everything went off as planned or even better than planned. Greatly adding to the festivities were three busloads of parishioners and priests from some of the surrounding parishes that we started in years past but that are now served by others: Romanovka and Bolshoy Kamyen with Fr. Christopher Gotts; Nakhodka with Fr. Sebastian (our good friend who lived with us for four years); Arsenyev with Fr. John Gibbons, OFM; and a large group of parishioners and their Sisters of the Visitation who came by train (14 hours) from Fr. Myron’s former parish in Khabarovsk. They all joined our Bishop Kirill Klimovich from Irkutsk, our deacon Br. Oleg from Slovakia, priests from as far away as St. Petersburg and the great Kamchatka Peninsula, local members of our two Vladivostok Catholic parishes, a Catholic film crew from Novosibirsk, local friends and workers, representatives of other faiths (Armenian, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist), local and state government officials, and benefactors and representatives of our order of Sisters in Jesus the Lord from the United States, to make a crowd of well over 400 people, undoubtedly the largest group we have ever had inside the church.
The complex and varied ceremonies started on time at 12:00 noon and took exactly three hours to accomplish. (I had predicted 2.5 hours, but some speakers went a bit longer than I thought they might.) During all the rites connected with the re-consecration of a church, that most people never have a chance to see, the choir and all the people sang the appropriate psalms and hymns from a 16-page booklet that I put together and printed on our large printing machine with a color picture of the new main altar on the cover. In addition to the liturgical booklet all present received another booklet put together and printed by Fr. Myron about the history and restoration of the church.
We all gathered next door to the church in the three-story lobby of our new parish center with an introduction by the bishop followed by a solemn procession of all 400 people out the doors, down the street and into the church yard, everyone singing Psalm 122 in Russian as we went, specially adapted to a beautiful Spanish melody: “I rejoiced when I heard them say, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord. And even now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.’” The altar servers, priests and bishop led the way followed by all the people. Fr. John Gibbons carried a wooden box containing the relics of 6 saints which were to be enclosed in the new altar. He was accompanied on each side by acolytes carrying processional candles with wind-proof glass chimneys.
When we reached the front steps of the church we stopped and gave the people time to gather around for the ceremony of the opening of the doors. First a few words were said about the history and restoration process of the church. Then a representative of the builder handed over the keys of the main door to the bishop, who entrusted them to Fr. Myron as pastor. He opened the doors and we entered the church while the choir and others sang the words of Psalm 24 in Russian: “O gates lift high your heads, grow higher, ancient doors. Let Him enter, the King of Glory!” As we entered the church the organist picked up on the melody and began to accompany the singing.
After the solemn entrance procession Mass began with the bishop doing the rite of sprinkling of the altar, the walls of the church and all the people present while the choir and people sang in Russian the traditional Latin song associated with the sprinkling rite during the Easter season from the book of the prophet Ezekiel (47: 2), “I saw water flowing from the Temple.” From there the Mass progressed as usual through the Liturgy of the Word.
After the proclamation of the Gospel by our deacon Brother Oleg, who returned to Vladivostok from the major seminary in Kosice, Slovakia for the occasion, the bishop preached a very good homily, after which the special rites of the consecration of the main altar and church began. As the choir and people sang a metered version of Psalm 15 (“Lord, who can be admitted into your sanctuary?”) the bishop put the first class relics of the saints into a specially prepared opening in the back of the altar. We are very privileged to have received through the intercession of our friend John Paul Sonnen (of St. Paul, MN but now studying for his doctorate in theology in Rome at the Angelicum University) the relics of:
and also two small second class relics of the founders of our Sisters of Charity of St. Ann, Blessed Maria Rafols and the servant of God Fr. Juan Bonal. Then the bishop anointed with holy Chrism every square inch of the top of the altar, and lit a special censor with billowing incense on top of the alter. Then he proceeded to anoint the interior walls of the church at 12 separate places where memorial crosses and candles were mounted before the service. (The candles at these crosses will be lit during the Mass celebrated each year on the anniversary of the re-consecration.) During the anointing the people sang Russian translations of “The Church’s One Foundation” and Psalm 84 (“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts.”).
The holy Chrism was wiped off the altar with a towel (that was later burned), and the altar was covered with a new cloth and candles and decorated with flowers. Then Mass proceeded as usual until after communion, when the bishop blessed the tabernacle, carried the Blessed Sacrament to the altar of repose as all posed for several minutes of silent adoration and the singing of the “Pange Lingua” in Russian. (I reflected that the original Latin words of this song were composed by St. Thomas Aquinas, whose relic we had earlier placed inside the main altar.) After that there was time for Father Myron and the bishop to recognize and thank all the priests and sisters present and everyone who had taken part in the restoration and in the planning of the re-consecration liturgy and the other festivities connected with it. Then the bishop imparted to everyone the papal Apostolic blessing and we all processed out to the powerful strains of a beautiful hymn newly translated into Russian for the occasion, “The “Church of Christ Stands Invincible and Strong”. We went back to the parish center for a reception of food and drink for all guests.
I hope that these photographs will give you some understanding of how joyful this historic occasion was for all who attended, especially those of you who have supported the restoration of our church in any way over the past 16 years. Thank you for being a part of this day and for helping us to rejoice in this milestone of the rebirth of the Catholic Church in Vladivostok and the Russian Far East. You can see by the interior photographs that all the work done so far has turned out to be very beautiful. We still have to finish painting the backdrop of the altar (reredos), restore the main statue of the Madonna and Child and put it in the top of the reredos, and build the towers. There is also some finish work to be done in the sacristies, memorial chapel, cry room and bathrooms.
With love and prayers,
(Fr.) Dan
Letter from Fr. Dan - August 17, 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
In the almost two weeks since I returned to Vladivostok from the USA I’ve been watching the daily progress of our Russian, Chinese and Vietnamese workers on the restoration of our historic church. It is so interesting to me that I want to share some of it with you. I owe many of you thank you letters for helping me or hosting me during my 9-week stay in 44 different cities in June, July, and the first week of August, but I am putting that off to send the following letter and attachments not just to those I have seen recently, but to all my family and friends. This restoration is getting to be one of the most exciting projects I have ever been involved in.
In February 2006, when we first decided to begin the complete restoration of the interior Fr. Myron and I thought that, with our very limited financial resources, we could not do a first class restoration job of this once beautiful, old, historic church. We contented ourselves with the knowledge that we could improve it by removing the added floor and returning the church to its original configuration. But as for altars, floor covering, baptistery, etc. we thought we would have to economize and do something more economical. However, it seems in some respects that we were wrong. Our Blessed Mother evidently wants a beautiful church in her honor for the glory of her Son, so she found us a way. Through a friend we were put in contact with a young American church architect/interior designer of the highest talent and ability, who agreed to work on the designs of many of the interior appointments free of charge. His name is Matthew Alderman, and he is featured on page two of the latest (July 2007) issue of our newsletter, the Vladivostok Sunrise.
Attached to this letter are five .jpg files of some of his creations, which are in the process of being built, or soon will be.
Designs by Matthew Alderman:
The reredos or retable behind the main altar rises from the floor to a height of 48 feet, just below the ceiling. It incorporates from bottom to top: the new, five-sided Blessed Sacrament altar to be executed from one block of red marble in a Gothic design, now being made by a Chinese stone carving firm the tabernacle that was given to us in 1991 by Archbishop Flynn of San Francisco, which for many decades was our historic pre-revolutionary crucifix, which was in the first Catholic Church in Vladivostok at least by 1908. the organ pipe screen for the new ranks of pipes to be attached to our “Stella Maris” Rodgers organ. Our beloved titular statue of the Most Holy Mother of God, given to us in 1993 by the Sisters of the Holy Family, formerly of Fremont, CA (currently in need of restoration). The four colors of the carved wood reredos will be: medium dark stained wood; gold leaf, red enamel, and blue enamel. I never imagined that we could afford to produce such a reredos as this promised to be.
Oblong main altar
(no drawing available yet) to be executed from three solid blocks of
red marble (bottom, middle and top cemented together) in a matching
Gothic design by the same Chinese firm that is carving the Blessed
Sacrament altar.
Ambry shrine behind the baptismal font (see attached drawing). It will be the backdrop for the baptismal font and the display case for the holy oils (the wooden box in the center). The drawing shows the panels of the shrine in their open position. On the left will be a painting of St. John the Baptist and on the right, of Our Lord at His baptism. The same color scheme of the main reredos will be used on the carved wood.
Two rough sketches of the baptismal font one in perspective, the other showing the elevation.
The small room occupying the ground floor of the north bell tower, just to the left of the vestibule as one enters from the main (west) façade, will be a chapel in memory of all parishioners and others martyred in the religious persecution of 1917-1992. In this chapel there will be two altars, a Blessed Sacrament altar and an altar of Sacrifice for the Mass, both made of black marble with natural gold and silver highlights. (No drawing available yet.) The Mass altar will be have 5 pillars visible from the front, one for each of the last five adult male members of the parish, who were executed by firing squad on February 3, 1938 “for counter-revolutionary and religious activities” (according to their officially published death sentence).
We hope that our Bishop Kirill will be able to officiate at the solemn re-consecration of the church on the 70th anniversary of that date, February 3, 2008. Above and behind these chapel altars will be the new stained glass window of the crucifixion.
We received by train from Belarus four new stained glass windows designed and made by the same two artists who have made all the windows (1999 to the present). They will be installed by the artists themselves as soon as they arrive in Vladivostok. The two largest of them, the “Marriage of Mary and Joseph” and the “Mary of the Immaculate Conception” will be installed in the apse on either side of the main sanctuary. The other two, the “Crucifixion” and the “Flight into Egypt”, will be installed in the sides of the north and south towers on the first floor. This will be the fifth installment in our church of their unique and beautiful work. Each time feels like Christmas.
In addition to the artist’s sketches I have included a .jpg photo of the present state of the main reredos under construction. The remaining wooden parts have been carved and are waiting assembly. The next step now for the workmen is to construct a steel skeleton four stories high on which to mount them.
In November the former curator of the pipe organ will come to Vladivostok from St. Paul, MN to install the organ pipes in and behind the main reredos.
At the moment our Russian, Chinese and Vietnamese workers are busy laying the black and white composite stone floor. With the money that we saved on some of the other interior appointments we were able to purchase a better quality floor tile than we originally thought. It looks like polished marble.
Later this summer or perhaps in the fall we hope to be able to begin construction of the bell towers and steeples, which were never built because the communists arrived in 1922 before construction could begin. It has been suggested that the best way of attaching the steeples to the towers will be by helicopter. If that happens I think we should make sure to record the process on audio/video.
You can see that there is much to pray about, and that, in its own way, it is important. We hope to provide something beautiful for the Catholic people of the Russian Far East and for the entire city.
I am not disappointed that we have had to postpone the date of the solemn re-consecration yet again. That has been made necessary by two unavoidable problems. (1) The state government of Primorski Krai has not admitted the majority of our Chinese guest workers, even though we received all required permissions from the federal government of Russia months ago. We do not know the reason for the delay. (2) The Chinese marble company could not find enough red marble for the main altar and Blessed Sacrament altar until last week. We had almost decided to go with white marble when we got word that the right shade of red marble had been found.
Thank you for your many prayers for the successful completion of this historic project. I will try to keep you posted on the project over the next several months. If you do not receive our bi-monthly newsletter, the Vladivostok Sunrise, edited by Fr. Myron, you may subscribe to it by writing to our US office at: 1854 Jefferson Avenue, St Paul MN, 55105. Lately several of its articles and photos have been about the church restoration.
With love and prayers, (Fr.) Dan
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Copyright © 2007 Mary Mother of God Mission Society
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