Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

This page will feature Frequently Asked Questions, including those already published in earlier Parish Bulletins.
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Why is the Baptism Font at the back?

Good question MTR. In the design discussions that arose from our series of workshops way back in the beginning of our journey, the liturgical documents inferred 3 various locations, 2 preferred and 1 a concession. The first option was outside the entrance way of the Worship Space. Because baptism is the means by which we enter the Community, this option serves to remind us of that fact. The second option, just inside the Worship Space, states the same thing, but just a little less forcefully. The third option is mere convention, at the front of the Worship Space where the sacramental celebration would be more visible. It is the least preferred option. The documents say that the font should be a-flow with living water, and if possible, should be the only receptacle with water. The little finger dippers at most doors of churches, are there precisely to remind us of our baptism. What better way to emphasize baptism than be having to encounter it every time you enter the Worship Space. The unity of it also reminds us that we all share in the same baptism. The choice of the granite was simple. We are baptized so that we can come to the table of the Lord. There is an organic unity, and a direct connection to the altar and the ambo. The font is also on a direct axis with the altar. The choice of the same stone for all three pieces of furniture highlights this connection exceedingly well. So, we remember that we enter the Community through one baptism, one font. .................................

Why do we keep referring to our church as the Worship Space?

AT the beginning of our journey from the old St. Francis de Sales, with all the turmoil and controversy, we had to quickly discern what the early church new from the start, that people are more important than buildings. In fact, they at one time refused to allow their worship to be confined to any building. The word church always referred to the people, not the building. When permanent structures came into vogue, it was always referred to as the house for the Church, or in other words, the place where the Church gathered to be the Church. Throughout two thousand years of history, the building came to be identified synonymously with the people, simply because the two went hand in hand. Then there was a separation whereby the building took over the identity entirely, to the detriment of the communal sense and prominence of the people of God. Jump ahead to the magnificent period of architecture where these houses for the Church became artistic masterpieces evoking great awe and reverence, and soon people began to feel inadequate and unworthy to enter such divinely inspired places, and suddenly the building was holy, and the people were not. Well, in an attempt to establish a re-ordered meaning, this building, the home for the Church (People) of St. Francis de Sales was designed to reflect that the building is for the People, not the other way around.
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What is the meaning of Lent?

Lent is our time for spiritual renewal. For many people summer is the time for physical renewal, Christmas is the time to renew friendships and family. In Lent we renew our spirit. The spiritual renewal takes on specialized form for two different groups in the parish. The faithful recommit themselves to life in Christ. The elect prepare themselves for baptism. Both groups undergo Lent as a season of preparation, and the experience of one group feeds the other. The elect see in the faithful the ideal of sacramental life toward which they strive. The faithful see in the elect the strengthening of a spiritual commitment that they strive to renew. To these mutual ends, all those in the household of the church use Lent as a season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, to arrive at Easter purified of heart and renewed in spirit.
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