Before and After: The Altar of St. Joseph''s Church in Killeen, Texas

Ask most people to think about architecture and sacred architecture in particular and they naturally tend toward thinking of soaring architectural spaces, covered in frescoes or stained glass ands the like, repelte with intricate ornamental details and so on. After all, why wouldn't they? It forms a part of the hsitorical canon of sacred architecture. Churches  are veritable jewel boxes of art and architecture; they can be living museums one might even say. 

Of course, that's not always the case, Sometimes, especially in the modern period, church buildings are much plainer; more utilitarian in nature. Whether this is for ideological reasons or whether merely practical limitations doesn't really matter for our purposes; the point is they exist.  However, I've long maintained that even in such spaces, which may otherwise not have a lot going for them artistically speaking, with the right sense of colour and composition, and with a proper liturgical understanding that the altar is the primary focal point of the church building, an impact can be had. 

Case in point is this St. Joseph's Catholic Church located in Killeen, Texas. With the exception of its gothic-inspired rose window located at the front of the church, it is a fairly typical example of a mid-century, modern subburban church.  Brick walls, very basic geometric lines and so on. 

The space does have some qualities, most notably the 'tester' suspended over the place where the high altar would have likely been when this church was built. There is nothing particularly ornamental about it whatsoever, it is the mere fact of it. It accentuates the importance of this point of the church building -- as is intended.  Here is a closer look of the 'before.'

BEFORE:

So what could be done here in a space like this to improve upon it when there is so little to work with?  Working with Little Way Construction, a very twentieth century Liturgical Movement solution was adopted, helping to move our focus beyond whatever else is going on in this liturgical space and bringing our focus squarely to the altar. 

AFTER:

So what have they done here. Well, aside from making it possible to celebrate ad orientem at this altar (which they do incidentally), through the addition of a retable (or dossal-like) structure and the strategic use of colour and stencilling, they have visually re-connected the canopy with its altar and, in the process, given significant visual emphasis to the altar within the church building.  (For those who wonder about the tabernacle, worry not, while it isn't seen here in the above photo, it was eventually re-installed in the same, central location.)

For those who wonder what was meant when it was said that a very 'Liturgical Movement' inspired solution was adopted here, here is an example of one of the designs for an altar coming out of that movement, taken from Fr. Edwin Ryan's article in the Fall 1931 issue of Liturgical Arts Quarterly, a design which saw quite a bit of popular expression within the movement within the period of the 1920's through 1950's in particular: 

That article, for those interested, has been reprinted here on Liturgical Arts Journal (See Part 1 and Part 2).

The bottom line here is that, with just a bit of liturgical and artistic vision and taste, quite a bit can be accomplished with only a very little. As such, do not be discouraged if you have a parish situation where you may not have a great deal to work with and not a particularly big budget. (And if you're still unsure or uncertain, you can always reach out to LAJ to request a consult.) 

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