Before and After: St. Philips Catholic Church in Rolling Ground, Wisconsin

Our 'Before and After' series tends to get quite a bit of attention and interest -- and also a lot in the way of parishes and parish priests aspiring to do the same within their own parishes. The problem is almost always the same; how to beautify a church that had either been built or renovated after the 1960's. But there is another problem as well: what if your parish cannot pursue significant architectural interventions, whether for reason of financial limitations, diocesan guidelines, or otherwise?

It is true that with unlimited resources or the absence of over-bearing local liturgical guidelines, almost anything is possible, but sometimes one has to be more 'conservative' and pragmatic in one's approach to this sort of project.  In the case of St. Philip's Church in Rolling Ground, Wisconsin, we can see a renovation that doesn't not involve a massive reconfiguration of the church, but one that still makes its mark. 

The project in question was done under the auspices of C.J. Howard Architecture, an architectural firm based out of Alexandria, Virginia (a firm who also have a historical connection to McCrery Architects). 

In the 'before' instantiation we find ourselves faced with a fairly typical post-conciliar situation; the architectural 'bones' are all there, but much in the way of ornament and ordering has been stripped away. While a 'before the before' image has not been forthcoming, I suspect that this church would have had some stencilling or other painted imagery on the sanctuary walls, two side altars would no doubt have been present to either side of the apsidal space, and the lack of a central window within the same is likely indicative of the fact that a reredos would have been found here. Finally, an altar rail would have likely extended across the entire length of the sanctuary steps, separating it from the nave. 

Many features such as I describe here were removed in the feverous and arguably over-zealous days following the Second Vatican Council and St. Philip's seems no different:

BEFORE

Turning our attention to the 'after', while not all of the features and ordering that I mentioned were restored (assuming I am correct, that is, about the particulars of the historical ordering here), many of them were. 

The main elements that we see added here are the addition of colour and stencilling in and around the apse in particular, the addition of two side-altar like shrines to either side of the apse, the installation of an altar rail, and also the installation of a new wooden altar, sedilia and pulpit/lectern. 

AFTER

Shrine of Our Lady

Shrine to St. Joseph

What this particular project has accomplished is the reintroduction of echoes of a classical sanctuary ordering as well as the visual re-enchantment of the church through the introduction of harmony and symmetry, colour and ornament. 

If you'd like more in the way of technical information, we'd encourage you to visit the website of C.J. Howard Architecture, LLC and reach out to them. 

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