Tag Archives: Duncan Stroik

News, Women's Communities

Not Your Average 70’s Chapel

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One year ago, I posted a blog on the proposed renovation of the Carmelite chapel in the Infant of Prague Monastery in Traverse City, Michigan.

Here is what it looked like then.

 

Here is what it looks like now.

The renovated chapel and new altar were dedicated by Bishop Bernard Hebda of the Diocese of Gaylord on Sunday, February 3, 2013

The design and renovation work were supervised by Notre Dame architecture professor Duncan G. Stroik.

 

The Carmelite nuns decided after years of reflection to transform the modern-style chapel into a place of sacred beauty and transcendence. For the Carmelites, every experience of beauty is an experience of God – and their renovated chapel, though small, offered an opportunity for this beauty.

The nuns lead lives of simplicity, contemplation, and prayer, but wanted a beautiful sanctuary for the glory of God and to inspire the laity. The nuns’ choir is positioned to the side of the sanctuary, separated from it by a new forged steel grille in the Spanish Carmelite tradition. The Choir is positioned to the side of the sanctuary, where the nuns attend Mass and pray. There is a new altar rail, marble floor, mahogany woodwork, and new shrines to St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Joseph, and the Infant of Prague. The nuns requested wood columns and a wooden altar rail to give the sanctuary a Spanish aesthetic – and to aid Michigan’s economy by using local labor and materials.

A new tabernacle was also installed, accompanied by a matching set of candlesticks and crucifix, first in a new line of altar appointments designed by Mr. Stroik called Rinascimento,. The tabernacle is enthroned on the Carmelite’s high altar, with views from the nave and through the cloister grille.

The inscription above the Ionic columns reads Adducam eos in montem sanctum meum et laetificabo eos in domo orationis meae (Isaiah 56) – “These I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer.”

Mother Mary of Jesus, Prioress of the monastery, said, “We would need a cathedral to seat everyone who has helped us. The overwhelming support of the community has demonstrated that people want churches that look like churches.” Amen!

Cloistered life, Women's Communities

Traverse City Carmelites Chapel Renovation

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The Carmelite Nuns of Traverse City, Michigan, will soon have a renovated chapel, one that will be “more beautiful so the mind is lifted up to heaven.” For almost 50 years, the nuns have lived on their 60-acres of property worshiping and praying in a chapel  that “has some very beautiful elements, but we thought it would be difficult if not impossible to give it a more traditional and transcendent look due to its structure and small size.”

Then they were introduced to the work of architect Duncan Stroik whose recent commissions have included the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, WI, and the  Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA. A professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame, he authored the book Reconquering Sacred Space and is editor of the professional journal Sacred Architecture.

The Carmeltes small chapel would seem to be small potatoes for a man of his renown but he is excited about the project. “The sisters have a great love of beauty, of the liturgy and of tradition, and want to do something worthy of Christ. The fascinating part of the project is the sisters’ desire that the sanctuary be designed to be beautiful and inspiring from the nave as well as from their cloister chapel.”

Bishop Bernard Hebda of the Diocese of Gaylord is an enthusiastic supporter of the project. “My deepest hope is that these sisters may soon offer their praise and prayers in a setting that reflects the best of Catholic theology and the deep reverence and beauty of their personal faith,” he wrote. “At a moment when Pope Benedict has invited the Church in the English-speaking world to renew its appreciation for the Mass, and as we actively embrace a new Roman Missal which restores some of the richness of our traditions, the timing is perfect for construction of a new sanctuary within the Carmelite monastery chapel.”

For more information about the renovation project, contact chapelrenovation@charter.net

To be WOWed and I mean WOW by Duncan Stroik’s other works, visit his website.