A "Domus Dei" in Northern Kentucky
New church in Walton, Ky., grounded in tradition
(Sept./Oct. 2000)

BY FATHER JOHN SCHULTE

ON ASH WEDNESDAY in 1965, along with a hundred or so other Latin School boys, I was led into the beautiful Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington to participate in a Mass for the opening of Lent. I was barely 13 years old, and, I suppose, one could forgive a 13-year-old boy for being less than excited about the prospect of sitting quietly in a cathedral for an hour.

Far from being bored, however, I was in awe.

"God so loved the world," sang the Bishop’s Choir; and sitting in the midst of so much beauty, I had to agree. In every direction I looked, I saw images that reminded me that I was standing at the meeting place of Heaven and earth. The mosaics, the stained glass windows, the statues, the incense, the bishop with his miter and crosier, the organ—all these things seemed to draw me up and away from the ordinary, and into the realm of the sacred. It was at that Mass that I decided I would be a priest.

I have never forgotten that experience, and have had others similar to it, though perhaps not quite so life-changing. And these experiences have convinced me of the important part that beautiful art can play in fostering devotion and piety. The immigrants to our country who sacrificed to give from the little they had to build the beautiful churches which grace the older parts of our cities were not, as some have said, merely trying to say, "We have arrived!" They were witnessing to their love for God, His Church and her Sacraments, their desire to give their best to Him, and their understanding on an instinctual level of what Abbot Suger put into words a thousand years ago when he was building the great abbey church of St. Denis outside Paris, that the "mind is naturally drawn up to God through the contemplation of true beauty."

And so I was very excited when I discovered that the people of the parish to which I was recently assigned as pastor, had decided to build a beautiful Domus Dei, a "house of God" in the classical style in the small but growing community of Walton, Ky.

The parishioners of All Saints Church, under the leadership of their former pastor, Fr. Edwin Heile (now retired), secured the services of a 37-year-old architect with a national reputation, Duncan Stroik, of the University of Notre Dame. Stroik, after looking at the proposed site for the church, and listening to the pleas of parishioners, designed a church building that will make it possible to celebrate the Sacred Liturgy of our Church in accordance with the most recent liturgical directives in a building which does honor to our precious Catholic heritage.

The church as planned will be in the form of a Latin cross, with several niches along each wall of the nave for statues, with an altar of sacrifice surmounted by a baldachino, and with a large tabernacle in the center of the back wall of the sanctuary. An adoration chapel on the other side of that same wall will provide a place for quiet prayer in the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The church will have a bell tower, at the base of which will be a chapel for the celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism.

The parishioners at All Saints are so happy about the design for the new church that some have already come forward to offer to donate the new marble altar, the baldachino, and the tabernacle. One parishioner has offered to fashion the paneling for the sanctuary and other features of the church with walnut wood to be cut from his own farm. Others are volunteering to help with excavating, steel work, concrete work, and other aspects of construction. As a new pastor, I have to say that it is delightful to be around such enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, Stroik’s original plans have had to be modified. The entrance foyer, or narthex, has been down-sized. The rounded apse had to be re-designed as rectangular. Niches on the front of the building and two of the three front doors had to be eliminated.

The piazza with its fountain in front of the church has had to be simplified and made "fountainless." All these changes were mandated by cost considerations. Even so, the church as planned is a marvel.

While we at All Saints acknowledge that our new church will look quite different from the church buildings raised in other parts of our diocese in the last 25 years, we insist that our plans were not made "in reaction" to any other building. We are not "passing a judgment in stone" on other designs, but merely proposing an alternative.

We are trying to build a domus Dei that will be beautiful and inspiring, which will speak of the sacred to those who enter it, which will foster both community and private prayer, and which will provide the parish with a worthy place in which to celebrate the Church’s Sacraments. We hope too that our church, situated as it will be in sight of Interstate 75 which runs from the Canadian border to Miami, will be a sign to people outside the boundaries of our tiny parish of the vitality of our Catholic heritage, a testimony to the fact that our Church’s love of and wise use of the best of mankind’s art in the service and praise of God is not something that has ended, but something that is a living, vibrant reality.

That is a grand goal for any community, and one which can at times seem a bit overwhelming to a relatively small parish like All Saints, one with about 300 registered families. If any reader of this article feels inspired to help the people of All Saints reach their goal, you may send donations to "All Saints New Church Fund" 46 Needmore Street, Walton, Kentucky 41094.

[ St. Catherine Review ]