St. Michael's New Church

Due to a steady increase in parishioners, St. Michael Church in Garden City, South Carolina made a plan to build a new church about 7 years ago. Rev. Ray Carlo, St. Michael's pastor, began reserving liturgical items from church-inventory.com and having them restored by Henninger's skilled artists and craftsmen. Stations of the Cross, an ambo, multiple altars, statuary and more were in storage for the new church, waiting for the summer of 2012. Finally, the church building was ready to receive its patrimony.


Altar of Repose

Fr. Carlo selected this Altar, originally from St. Hyacinth Church in Cleveland.  It is constructed in Bottacino marble and it features a plaster Last Supper scene and gold painted Alpha and Omega symbols.

The first step required in its restoration was repairing and repainting the Last Supper.  It was cracked, broken, and pealing.  Henninger's statuary artist, Debbie Knopf repaired it, then painted it in faux marble to match the rest of the altar.

The marble was polished to its original finish and Henninger's crew installed it on-site using cinder block, plaster and epoxy.

These photos document the installation of the Altar of Repose and its finished state with a refinished Tabernacle and two Adoring Angel statues atop it.

 
Stations of the Cross
These stations are full round Daprato Statuary pieces that were originally from Christ the King Church in East Cleveland.  Each Station was touched up using sepia tones for the garments.  A total of 55 figures are featured in 14 Stations, so the touch ups were extensive.

The finished Stations were hung on the wall and spot lit, making each scene appear very dramatic.









Ambo & Altar of Sacrifice


Fr. Carlo picked carved marble Evangelist symbols for his Ambo and a carved marble Victorious Lamb symbol for his Altar of Sacrifice.  Each piece of used marble was extensively restored at Henninger's shop, then installed in the new sanctuary. 



 

The Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist as certainly tied together with these matching pieces.   They look stunning from a distance as well as up close.  The types of marble used on the Altar and Ambo are Bottacino on top and Rosso Atlantide on bottom.













Marian Side Altar and St. Joseph Side Altar

 Each of St. Michael's Side Altars are 13 1/2 feet tall.  These marble altars feature a mosaic background, gold mosaic decoration, large columns, and an impressive dome top.  Their restoration and assembly was a daunting challenge, but Henninger's marble workers were up to the task. 

Hanging Crucifix

Fr. Carlo selected this crucifix, originally from St. George Church in Cleveland.  The corpus was fully restored to a more natural skin tone, and a new cross was made.  The block style cross was selected so the stained glass window behind the crucifix would be more visible.

 

Adoration Altar
This Altar was originally from St. Procop in Cleveland.  It has a high level of decoration with carved Carrara marble arches and mosaic medallions.  It is a fitting Altar for the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

 

Henninger's entire staff is honored to play such a large role in furnishing St. Michael's new church.  It was a blessing to work with such wonderful people in South Carolina and help create a stunning place to worship.

Sanctuary Transformation

During Lent, Henninger’s completed the final touches on the transformation of the sanctuary of St. Mark Church on the West Side of Cleveland that included new marble furniture and the repositioning of the Church’s crucifix. Late last year, Fr. John Miceli approached Henninger’s to design new sanctuary furniture that would beautify his sanctuary and introduce some marble to the sanctuary, which was awash in a sea of light oak. After multiple designs and numerous meetings discussing the right marble to create depth and beauty to the environment, Fr. Miceli and Henninger’s finalized plans to replace the Church’s Altar of Sacrifice, Altar of Repose, Ambo, and Baptismal Font.

Due to load-bearing restrictions, the furniture was made out of sheets of a beautiful red & green marble that had tinges of purple in it when viewed from afar. All of the slabs of marble were pre-cut and polished as the furniture would consist of cinder block with the pre-cut pieces of marble attached around it to convey the look of large blocks of marble, something that was impossible due to concerns about the flooring in the sanctuary.

After all of the carpet was torn out of the old sanctuary and with the old wooden furniture removed, Henninger’s artisans went to work installing the marble pieces that had been cut and polished in the workshop, putting them into place and securing them. The Altar of Sacrifice and the Altar of Repose were built as two legs, allowed to dry for a day, then were finished off with Mensas the following day by Henninger’s team of installers.

With the Altars completed, the crew went to work installing the newly created baptismal font and the Ambo, putting both together in their new spots in the Sanctuary. Once again, because of weight restrictions, the baptismal font was constructed with cinder block and pre-cut and polished pieces of marble and sealed to ensure that there would be no leakage when filled. The Ambo was positioned over the top step to maximize space in the Sanctuary as well as putting the Word of God closer to the congregation. A shelf was installed on the Ambo for storage and the microphone was connected to the existing audio output.

The tabernacle was returned to the Altar of Repose and the Ambo was finished with a wood-carved emblem of St. Mark that had previously been elsewhere in the Church, now more prominent on the front of the marble Ambo. After the furniture was completed and in place, the sanctuary was ready for new carpet as three shelves were created for the Holy Oils on the wall between the Ambo and the Baptismal Font.

A few months later, Fr. Miceli was ready for the final stage of the sanctuary renovation as Henninger’s removed the crucifix from the back wall, created a new cross that was in proportion to the beautiful wood-carved corpus and suspended the existing cross and the newly-created cross above the sanctuary.

Using scaffolding and wire, Henninger’s positioned the cross behind the Altar to a place in the sanctuary that put the finishing touches on Fr. Miceli’s vision for the sanctuary as it was transformed with new furniture and with a new positioning of the crucifix to add depth and beauty to the sanctuary at St. Mark’s Church for generations to come.

Nothing would be finer than to be in Carolina

Henninger's service crew recently finished a renovation at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte, NC. Fr. Christopher Roux, the rector of the Cathedral, picked Henninger's for the movement of marble in the sanctuary through the shared relationship with the Poor Clares nuns.

Undated photo of St. Patrick before any renovation.

Before St. Patrick became the Cathedral of the Charlotte Diocese, the tabernacle was positioned at the back of the church. After renovations in 1979 and 1996, it was moved to the side of the sanctuary.  Commenting on the decision to move the tabernacle back, Fr. Roux commented, "The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. It has always been custom to have the tabernacle placed in a prominent (usually central) place in a church.  In the Cathedral, Bishop (Peter) Jugis desired to have that custom honored."

Removing marble back wall

Besides turning a side altar into a back altar of repose, Henninger's also moved marble benches, the bishop's marble sedelia, marble ambo, and reworked the marble baptismal font.  Each of these tasks required expert skill in moving and setting stone.

Moving side altar, piece by piece

Henninger's crew is headed by Jerry Klimo.  Jerry has been working on church restorations since 1973.  "I used to go to church and look around and say, 'Who did all this work?' It just amazed me. Then I went to work for the company that does it."




Jacob Sharf and Adam Klimo (Jerry's son) were also involved with the on-site renovation.  Precise grinding and carving, heaving lifting, and operating machinery are all required skills on a complicated job like this one.  




Years of experience in marble guided the crew to meet the expectations of Fr. Roux and the entire community at St. Patrick Cathedral.  As the work was wrapping up, Adam reflected on their two weeks in North Carolina:

Pictured from left: Jacob Sharf, Adam Klimo, & Jerry Klimo

"It’s been blessing to do this job, it shows what hard work and communication can create together," he said. "I want to thank you for all of us. For showing us what it means to the Church family. We do jobs without much fanfare and we don't mind it because God gave us the ability to do the work, so we don't like to take the attention off the One who should be getting the praise, and that is God.
"No matter what is done in churches, whenever you walk into that place of worship, you are there to bring glory to His name, and that is how we think of our work: it is our way to praise Him. He gave us the gift to work with these materials and to not use those abilities would to not bring praise to our Creator."

The following are some photos of the completed work:

Liturgical Art at Christ the Servant

Last week, Henninger's completed the fabrication of a large wood cross for a corpus that was to be hung at Christ the Servant Parish in Canton, OH. The cross was constructed to be large enough to properly frame the beautiful wood-carved corpus and to serve as a suitable backdrop to the sanctuary. The cross was constructed out of wood from pews that were originally housed at St. Stanislaus Church in Slavic Village in Cleveland and was given a rough-hewn look to match the hand-carved look of the corpus.

Upon arrival to Canton, the corpus was positioned on the cross, the previous cross was removed from the back sanctuary wall and the newly completed cross and corpus were raised into place. A detailed look at the process can be seen here in the progression video, graciously put together by Christina Stanley Morello of Christ the Servant Parish:

From concept through execution to completion of the project, the beauty and the artistic value of the wood showed through as the sanctuary at Christ the Servant was beautified with a focal point that fits the liturgical space and provides a piece of art for prayer and contemplation.

Mary Mother of God

The Church of St. Mary in Chardon, Ohio approached Henninger's for a custom statue of the Virgin Mary in June of 2011.  Fr. Tim Kalista, along with a committee dedicated to "Making Mary Matter" in their church had some definite ideas about the statue.

Mary should be pregnant, and joyful as the birth of Jesus was getting closer.  She should be standing on a pedestal, behind the tabernacle, her open arms presenting Jesus, her Son, to the church, as well as watching over the church.  They wanted it to fit into the theme of the church, carved in wood, stained in different shades of brown.  Mary should have a blue sash with gold stars and gold trim throughout her garments.  With this direction, Henninger's artists designed several options for the statue.  The drawing displayed was chosen. Her title was to be "Mary Mother of God."

Henninger's commissioned Demetz Art Studio in Italy to fabricate this statue, designed with love and adoration of the Blessed Virgin.  Demetz's talented artists first designed a small scale clay model - a Bozzetto - for approval.  With a couple of edits, the Bozzetto was given the go-ahead. 

Next, Demetz moved on to carving the linden wood statue.  They made sure that it was apparent that Mary is about seven months pregnant.  The Demetz family has been carving statues for generations, so this custom statue is the type they truly enjoy making.

 

Demetz photographed progress pictures of their work and emailed back and forth for approval.  The face had to be changed to give Mary a more "joyful expression".  Once the carving was complete, the statue was stained in different shades of brown.  Mary's white garment was painted in softed white, and the sash painted blue.  Finally the gold trim was added to complete the statue.  

Mary Mother of God was crated and shipped overseas, and delivered to St. Mary Church in Chardon on Friday, December 9.  It was dedicated by Fr. Dan Redmond that weekend, for Gaudete Sunday.  This was an appropriate time for dedication, since we recognize the joy and gladness of Jesus' coming birth.  The Mary Mother of God statue clearly displays the Virgin Mother, with child, and a joyful expression as she anticipates the birth of her Son.

The statue is situated on a pedestal, with Mary's arms open to the tabernacle, presenting her Son to the Church.  The parishioners of the Church of St. Mary in Chardon will celebrate a joyful Christmas with this new statue to accompany their prayer.

Henninger's New Location

Effective Jan. 1, 2012, Henninger's is moving its main location to its warehouse in Brook Park.  The showroom, offices, used church goods, stained glass studio, wood shop, marble shop, and statue restoration studio will all be under one roof.  All of the craftsmen, sales staff, bookkeepers, and artists will be working together for the first time ever.  We are very excited about this move, since it is a much larger location - 40,000 square feet - than our current store in Parma.  Please call us at (800) 362-0217 or email us with any questions.  Please change your records as of the new year, our address is:
Henninger's Religious Goods
5227 West 137th Street
Brook Park, OH 44142