New 30 Foot Tall High Altar

Completed high Altar

About two years ago, Father Jim Fitzpatrick asked parishioners of St. Bernard Church in Alpena, Michigan if they wanted to have an altar like the one that was removed from the church in the mid-1960s. Within weeks, fundraising made that dream a possibility.  Old photographs were uncovered to discover the grandeur of the previous altar from St. Bernard:

Archive photo of previous high altar

Fr. Fitzpatrick contacted Henninger's in July, 2014 to investigate options.  Used altars from Italy were proposed.  Used altars from Ohio were proposed.  Unfortunately, nothing was close enough to the original altar to be considered.  At that time Henninger's design team began work on drawing a new altar:

Final design

Drawing altar

The design was approved in March, 2015 and work began.

The design was enlarged to the full size of 30 feet tall for Henninger's woodworkers to measure and lay out each section of the altar. Meanwhile, in Italy, statues were being carved for various places in the altar.  A new crucifixion group of St. John, St. Mary Magdalene, and the Virgin Mary, plus two Adoring Angels were carved and painted by Demetz Art Studio. 

Work in Progress

Piece by piece, the altar was built in Henninger's warehouse.  The fiberglass Last Supper panel and grapes relief panels were added, along with decorative polystone capitals and onlays.  Columns were turned, Gothic arches were shaped, and tracery panels were assembled.  As people toured Henninger's warehouse, many exclaimed at its height, to which the woodworkers replied, "we still have to go 12 feet higher!"

Work in Progress

When the construction of the altar was complete, the painting began.  The plan was to paint the new high altar to match the old high altar from St. Bernard - in white with gold/bronze trim.

Painting Altar

Delivery and installation of the high altar took place October 29 - November 3.  The church's statues of St. Patrick, St. Bernard, the Crucified Christ, along with the tabernacle were inserted perfectly into the new altar.  Lighting in each niche was added to highlight each statue.

 Installation time lapse video part 1

Installation time lapse video part 2

Installation

 

Click here for a YouTube video of the installation

The dedication Mass to celebrate the installation of the new high altar is 1pm on Sunday, November 8.  In anticipation of the Extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy recently declared by Pope Francis, St. Bernard Church has been named a place of pilgrimage within the Diocese of Gaylord.

Delaware Doors

St. Mary's in Delaware, Ohio is a grand church with a brick structure in Gothic style.  Its two spires tower over the town.  In 1980 the church was listed in the National Register of Historic places.  Unfortunately, the main doors did not fit in with the rest of the Church.  They were made of glass and steel and resembled storefront doors.  Recently, Henninger's was contacted for a design of for new wood doors with stained glass windows.

Storefront doors before project began

Henninger's design for new doors

Fr. Michael Watson, pastor of St. Mary Church, asked for the new doors to made of solid wood.  The middle double doors should be raised from 7 feet in height to 8 feet in height.  A handicap entrance button was included as well.

The stained glass windows designed for the doors used a pattern in the nave of the church.  Debbie Knopf, one of Henninger's skilled and experienced stained glass artists, handled the fabrication of the windows.  The patterns on the leaded glass windows were hand-painted in black matte.  When complete, they were encapsulated in tempered glass for safety.

Stained glass design

Debbie Knopf, Henninger's stained glass artist

Tim Molnar led Henninger's woodworkers with the building of the solid wood doors.  An expert craftsman with decades of experience, Tim oversaw every facet of the project, from milling and assembly to sanding, staining, and finishing.  Each set of door had a new transom made.  The middle doors had sidelights built.  New jambs were made for all three areas.  To put it simply, this was a big job!

Tim Molnar and woodworking crew

A crew of four of Henninger's service team - Tim Molnar, Natalie Molnar, Jerry Klimo, and Adam Klimo -  installed the doors over the week of June 1, 2015.  New hardware was included with each door.  The stone work on the facade of the church was being restored at the same time as the door installation, adding to the facelift.

Installation crew

Exterior view of finished door

Interior view of finished door

"I am very pleased with the new church doors... how could anyone be unpleased with them?"

- Rev. Michael Watson, pastor

Completed new doors at St. Mary Church in Delaware, Ohio

Replacement of Mary Statue

In the winter of 2014, vandals pushed over the marble Mary statue in front of Our Lady of Peace in Cleveland, shattering the statue into 4 pieces.  Since puzzling the pieces back together was deemed too costly, Henninger's assisted the Church in finding a statue that would replace the damaged statue.  Working with carvers in Carrara, Henninger's and Our Lady of Peace finalized the design and size to create a new statue of Mary, carved out of Carrara marble.

Once completed, the statue was sent via ocean freight and, upon arrival, uncrated and installed - and secured - in front of the Church, where the previous Mary once stood for so many years.  With the new Mary in place, the entrance to Our Lady of Peace is back to looking as it always has, with the kind face of Mary as a welcome to all who visit.

St. John Paul II Statue and Altar

Polish Catholics have a special devotion to St. John Paul II.  After his canonization, Father Lucjan Stowkowski started planning for a statue and altar to honor him. Father Lucjan is the pastor of St. John Cantius Church in Cleveland, a Polish church founded in 1898.  The church is rich with ornate decoration, from large wood altars, to detailed paintings on the walls.  The bar was set very high at St. John Cantius for beautiful religious items.












Fr. Lucjan approached Henninger's for a design for this new statue and altar.  The image above was agreed upon.  The statue was to be 6 feet tall, and the altar was to be 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep.  Both were to be hand carved in white Carrara marble in Italy.  With the help of generous donors, the statue and altar were commissioned and work began in May of 2014.

The following pictures show the design and carving process of these wonderful pieces:

 

The statue's area on the side of the church was renovated while the statue and the altar were getting worked on.  Extra support was needed in the basement to support the weight.  Finally, they were installed in December of 2014.

The finished statue and altar installed in place at St. John Cantius Church:

Sacristy Renovation at St. Christopher Church

In the Spring of 2014, Henninger's Inc. was contacted by St. Christopher Church in Rocky River,
Ohio to look at their outdated and non-functional priests' sacristy.  After some water damage to the sacristy that needed repair and with the renovations that had taken place in the previous years to the Church, the only remaining part of the plant that needed an upgrade was the priests' sacristy.  Because of a lack of space for vestments, a too-small sacristy sink, a dated cabinet that was too deep and a wall that was non-functional, St. Christopher tasked Henninger's with coming up with a design to renovate the cabinetry and transform the sacristy, done in concert with repairing the water damage, re-painting the sacristy, and outfitting the room with new light fixtures to brighten up the space.

In looking at the existing furniture, the determination was made to remove the sink cabinet and replace it with a more functional cabinet with a new granite top, incorporating both a new, larger and more functional sink and an additional vestment case.

In looking at the cabinet that held the liturgical books, linens, paraments, and stoles, the determination was made that the current design was fine, but that replacing the current nicked-up wood top with a granite top would bring the design of the room together as it would more closely match the new vestment case/sink cabinet that would be constructed.

Finally, a wall that provided no additional storage was examined, with a design created to match the paneled doors in the room and the new cabinetry that would be created.

With the designs approved, Henninger's craftsmen went to work fabricating the cabinetry and cutting the new granite tops to fit into the space and accommodate the new sink:

Once all of the furniture was completely constructed and the granite tops were ready for installation, Henninger's went to work repairing all of the water damage in the sacristy, then painted the sacristy to brighten up the room.  When the repairs and painting was complete, Henninger's installers arrived to replace the top on the cabinet that would be staying in place.

With the granite top set, Henninger's crew turned their attention to removing the existing cabinet that would be replaced, then to installing the newly created cabinetry, complete with new sink, a place to "hide" the sacristy fridge, and the extra vestment cabinet.  Once in place, Henninger's matched the stain of the other furniture in the sacristy, waiting until it was in place to ensure a perfect match.

Finally, Henninger's crew went to work installing the newly created cabinet under the statue of the Holy Family, providing the Church with more storage and with a piece of furniture that properly finished the space.

Ultimately, the renovation achieved the goal of providing the Church with a more functional sacristy that was more aesthetically pleasing while incorporating design elements from elsewhere in the Church.  The result was a "new" sacristy that looked as if it had always looked that way - perfectly fitting into the rest of the Church while giving the priests a much more suitable and functional sacristy.