Dedication of a Church

Just a couple weekends ago, I had the tremendous pleasure of serving a very rare form of the liturgy: the dedication of a new church. 

Over Labor Day weekend, I wanted to make sure I was present for the dedication of the new renovations at St. Thomas More Newman Center at Ohio State. I poured my heart into Buckeye Catholic during my undergrad, so seeing this change was very exciting. For context, this is what the church looked like just before COVID:

It wasn't great by any means, but it was at least a gathering space. We didn't even have a tabernacle in the sanctuary. I knew of many students who would travel to neighboring parishes for mass because the building itself at newman wasn't conducive to their prayer. The diocese took it over in 2022 and made some small improvements, but it still was subpar.

Bishop Earl and the Catholic Foundation decided to take a chance on us and donate millions of dollars to improve the building. This was a big deal because we really saw a boom in student involvment last year with the new diocesan leadership. Even though I knew that I wouldn't be able to use the new building during my time at OSU, I was still super excited.

The renovation was entirely a fruit of God's grace. Apparently, the permits required for the use of the sanctuary weren't even approved until 2-3 days before the dedication mass. Construction finished up literally the week before the dedication. Considering the complexity of the project, I would attribute those successes to all of our intercession, especially Our Lady Under of Knots. 

The mass itself was nothing like what I have ever experienced serving. First off, we had 10 servers. That was a record for us. We were calling pastors the night before trying to find enough cassocks for us to wear sincce we don't have many (shout out to St Cats). The rehersal for this liturgy lasted almost three hours. We had to miss the OSU game which was unforuntate :/

Many of us were stressed beforehand just because of the moving parts, but as soon as the gloria sounded, the place exploded in lovely singing. The place was packed to the gills. I haven't seen so many people smile at once. I know there were many tears shed. All of our dreams had come true before our eyes.

I won't go into the entire ordo of the liturgy, but I was one of two thurifers (yes, we needed 2 guys just for incense). For perspective, a normal mass will use between 4-6 charcoals to burn incense. In this liturgy, we used 21 and easily could have used more. The hardest part of using that many charocals is lighting them all... especially when the blow torch stops working in the middle of the liturgy. I began freaking out because I couldn't get these charcoals to ignite. The type we use ignite very easily, so this was certainly a moment of panick. Luckily, we eventually got the torch to put out some sort of flame and we got everything done in time. 

Overall the liturgy was amazing, but I didn't get to absorb it because we were working the entire mass with things like procession torches, incense, the sacred oil, candles, flowers, altar linens, torches and incense for the consecration, and serving for the first time in essentially a new church. We had to sort of invent the new norms (when and where to bow, tracks to walk on, where to put stuff) on the spot. 

I will say, the final procession out had the hymn "O God Beyond All Praising" which was amazing. That hymn is just one that transcends my soul into the heavenly liturgy on high. It gave me goosebumps, and I will remember that moment for a very long time.

Overall, it was an honor to serve a liturgy like this, especially since I am not a student. With many of the 1970's post-Vatican II churches becoming outdated in architecture and style, I hope to see more of these complete overhauls in the future. They may be considered "a waste of money" but what is more practical than spending money on a space that helps you pray and get to heaven?