A True Restoration

A True Church Restoration Project
Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest Working to Save Churches
(from the January/February 1999 issue)

ACCORDING TO FATHER TIMOTHY E. SVEA "the treasury of the Faith is being lost." This treasury, "a repository of beauty and truth without equal," explains Svea, "consists of both the spiritual and material, both the essential and the tactile. But today this most magnificent Catholic patrimony is being relegated again to popular obscurity or even laid to waste."

Svea is the U.S. superior for the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, a "society of apostolic life" canonically erected by the Vatican on September 1, 1990 to offer Mass and the Holy Sacraments according to the 1962 Missal. Since the society has brought its priestly mission—to restore and advance the reign of Christ the King in all aspects of human life and culture—to the United States just two years ago, it has established regular Latin Mass apostolates in the dioceses of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and Rockford, Illinois.

At present, the Institute boasts 27 priest members and over 40 seminarians. Their international seminary is located a few miles outside Florence, Italy.

According to Svea, one of the worthy tasks the Institute has undertaken is "the salvaging of traditionally constructed churches that have fallen into disuse or neglect during the past thirty years of decline and changing demographics." While many in the Catholic world are working to dismantle the traditional image of the Church, the Institute is working to preserve and restore these traditional churches, whose solid walls speak strongly of the of the unchangeable; whose vaulted apses invoke mightily a spirit of adoration; and whose stained glass windows—that ancient invention of the Faith whose pious depictions are both inspirational and catechetical—simultaneously enlighten with a Catholic light both heart and mind.

One such church currently being preserved and restored is St. Mary’s Shrine in Rockford, Illinois, which Bishop Thomas G. Doran has called "one of the most venerable Catholic churches in the City of Rockford."

Three years ago St. Mary’s Shrine was slated to be closed and most likely demolished as well, until Doran, Bishop of Rockford, gave the shrine over to the pastoral care of Institute priests. Today St. Mary’s is once again home of the timeless Rome rite (including two daily Masses).

Built over a century ago, and with three decades of utter neglect, the Institute has set forth to return this Romanesque stone structure to its original splendor—not by removing the tabernacle, the pews or the altar rail, not by painting over the church’s murals, not by removing the beautiful, although dirty and weathered stained glass windows, but by true restoration, which is indeed possible.

Daprata Rigali Studio, established in the United States in 1860, has been tasked with the artistic restoration. If you are interested in helping the Institute with the restoration of St. Mary’s Shrine or if you are interested in the work of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, they may be contacted at: Priory of the Immaculate Conception, 26400 County Road U, Cashton WI 54619. Phone: (608) 823-7992.

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