Scaffolding Everywhere, Rebuilding the Church

This evening, my daughter had her first solo in a concert at St. Patrick Cathedral in Norwich, CT.  She sings in the Diocesan Choir there, and has for almost six years, so the opportunity to perform alone, even if it was only for eight measures, was much appreciated.  Anyway, when I arrived for the concert, I found this:

Scaffolding in St. Patrick Cathedral

Katherine the Great had warned me that the sanctuary was "full" of scaffolding, and I believed her, but I certainly couldn't imagine what "full" meant.  Well, all I can say is...wow!

After speaking to some of the parishioners at St. Patrick, I was given to understand that all the scaffolding was to support the work of restoring the murals that once graced the ceiling of the church, as seen in this postcard from 1909.

Postcard of St. Patrick Cathedral

According to one concertgoer that I met, the artwork disappeared during the tenure of Pope Paul VI (1963-1978).  The official renovation brochure put out by the diocese merely states that "over the years" the murals were painted over.  No explanation was given me as to why this eradication occurred, but it did, and now it is being undone.

I must admit, not being Catholic and not being a parishioner at St. Patrick, when I first heard that this painting was going to be done and when I first saw the paint tests, I thought it might be a gigantic waste of money to restore the cathedral, money that could be better spent on ministry and outreach.  Then again, the Israelites applied a lot of artistic skill and wealth to the wilderness tabernacle because it was the house of God (see Exodus, Chapters 25-30), so who am I to question the bishop and his plans for the local cathedral?

The ceiling and its murals should be finished by the middle of summer, if not sooner, just in time for the Diamond Jubilee Mass at the end of July 2013.  For now, this is the only glimpse I could get of the actual artwork that, when finished, will depict the life of Christ.

A sneak peek of a mural in St. Patrick Cathedral

To see/read a complete brochure on the cathedral renovation, click here.
To read an article about the Life of Christ murals and to see a rendering of them, click here.