With the parish family of St. Anne Catholic Church in Barrington at 11,000 people and growing, the old sanctuary was inadequate for weekly masses. But with dramatic new stained glass, woodwork and other trimmings, it’s become an intimate, comfortable chapel.
In the first part of a $15 million expansion and renovation of the church and adjacent school, the 180-seat chapel was unveiled over the weekend and its altar blessed in a special ceremony.
“It’s nice to me that they kept so many things from the original church,” said Barrington resident Dee Hirth, whose father helped build that structure in 1950.
“I was thrilled and amazed because they didn’t destroy what Father (Alexander) Thane had built–all they did was enhance it. It’s absolutely beautiful. It gives off a very warm feeling.”
The chapel will be used for daily masses, small weddings and funerals and has been designed to be open 24 hours a day. An adjacent meditation garden includes a fountain, benches and landscaping provided in part by money that St. Anne School students are raising during Lent. It also will always be open for those seeking serenity in a spiritual setting.
“The architectural and artistic focal point of the renovation is the stained-glass windows, which are about 30 feet high,” said Joseph Kelsch, director of development and operations.
The themes of the windows are familiar: the Nativity, the Resurrection, the Good Shepherd and St. Anne.
The most remarkable change was to move the altar and crucifixion window from the east to west wall, closing what had been the entrance off Ela Street. The window was significantly enlarged, now extending to the floor, and is part of a triptych with Gothic-shaped windows on each side. The shape is significant.
“With the stained-glass windows and the sculptures, this chapel and church will be more traditional than most. The artistic work of the chapel will flow into the new church. The intent is to connect the worship spaces,” said Rev. Jack Dewes, pastor of St. Anne since 1989.
There now are two entrances into the chapel, on the northwest corner and on the north side. The altar is protected by wrought-iron gates more than 14 feet high.
Wrought iron also will encircle the meditation garden, which will be completed in the summer.
Dewes, who conducted the altar-blessing ceremony, remembers how the expansion project took root and grew.
“When I arrived (as pastor), it was Cardinal (Joseph) Bernardin who suggested to me that we start preparing to build a new church,” he said. “At that time, we had reached 3,000 families. Today, we have 3,300 families or households and 11,000 parishioners.”
It’s not the first building project for the church. The congregation of Rev. Alexander Thane, pastor of St. Anne from 1943 until 1971, outgrew the 125-seat wooden church building that had been bought from the Barrington Methodist Congregation in 1873. The church that is now a chapel was built for the burgeoning parish, and the wooden structure survived until being razed in 1961.
The current expansion involves building a 1,200-seat church, gathering center and 75-foot bell tower. The lower level of the gathering center, to be completed by September, will contain a cafeteria to be used by St. Anne School.
A new school administrative center and gymnasium will be connected to the church building. A “link” between the new school structure and the current school will contain restrooms, locker rooms, a gym office and storage space on the first floor, and science and technology classrooms on the second floor.
The exterior and interior of the school will be renovated while classes are out, between late May and early September. The school also will gain an art and music room and a preschool.
The new church will eliminate the need for Sunday masses in both the sanctuary and across the street in the parish center, which has happened for the last 19 years. With the new gym, cafeteria and music room, students won’t have to cross Ela Street either.
The parish center gymnasium will be reduced by about a third to allow more space for ministry and staff offices, plus youth and senior centers.
