Alphonsus Church - Research Paper Example

1. Introduction Alphonsus Church is a Roman Catholic Church that was made of stone and concrete, and constructed on a high-leveled ground overlooking directly to the main entrance to Sydney harbor. A well-tended graveyard that contains the remains of the faithful of earlier generations is constructed to the behind section of the church. The name for St. Alphonsus was derived from the sainted founder of the then Redemptorist Congregation. This Church however, was later given a nickname “Rock Church” by the construction men who were responsible for the putting up of the Gothic stone church and the rock wall that surrounded the church. 2. Historical Background The historical back ground of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church dates back to 1861 when Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick made an invitation to the Redemptorists to construct a permanent home in St. Louis. Following the invitation, the Redemptorists bought three and one-half acres of land at Grand and Cook Avenues, and Father Francis Xavier Seelos paid a visit to the construction site of the future of St. Alphonsus “Rock” Church who was still in St. Louis in a parish mission preaching. On May 1st 1867, ground was broken for the church and on November 3rd the same year the cornerstone was put up in and blessed by the Rev. Joseph Melchers who was then the vicar general of the archdiocese. In 1887 the 22nd date of November, Rev. Augustus Tolton – the first African-American Roman Catholic priest – visited the St. Alphonsus “Rock” Church and met the Redemptorist Community then offered a mass which was meant for the School of Sisters on Notre Dame in their convent chapel within the church compound. Between the years 1887 to 2006 several invents that included the expansion of the activities of the church and alteration of the priests, clergy, deacons and pastors occurred. On 16th of August 2007, lightning struck the roof of the church resulting into a five alarm fire forcing the parish to celebrate their mass in the gym thereafter. This same year ( 2007) it was recommended that the church be closed to the fear of its structural deficiencies that in other words risked the lives of those who worshiped in it. This move was due to the concerns of human rights and need for worshippers safety that were considered as very important. Since then, worries have on people as if the church could be restored. Among the individuals who crucially expressed their concerns were the former parishioners of the church such as Terry Pittman, veteran harbor pilot and the current chairperson of the Sydney Ports Corporation who also had a better understanding of the historical building materials that had been used in the construction of the church. Reasons for the passion of this church’s restoration varied from one person to the other and one could not clearly understand their need to have it restored. However, one factor that united all pressing needs was to reunite the then Christian congregation of the institution. Terry Pittman, a former parishioner, had a vested interest in having the church (St. Alphonsus) restored because his daughter Katrina had been married in the church in 2002; and his consideration of the Church’s significance in the lives of former harbor pilots. During the construction of the church in 1919, the Pilot age Authority of Sydney paid for the construction of one of the number of church’s spires that have withstood the test of time. Architectural and Symbolic Functions of the Church Even though St. Alphonsus Church served for the purpose for which it was intended, it also helped in a number of ways though not fundamental. For a number of years after its construction, St. Alphonsus Church was in other ways being used by harbors pilots as their magnetic bearing for their ship navigation. Tentatively, this church had been perceived as and could be seen from longer distances as a beacon of hope for those individuals who went down to the sea in ships. For the then entire Christian fraternity or congregation, this church served as a reminder of their connectedness. Unique features of the Church St. Alphonsus is one of the best know and acknowledged surviving intact polychrome ecclesiastical interiors before the year 1870. Its frescoes are a representation of the few examples of Italian fresco work dating back to the year of 1970s. It is characterized by its 1980s’ stained glass windows that have remained intact in their original places, and that were designed and manufactured in Munich by the renowned F. X. Zetter of the then Royal Bavarian Institute. The unsuitable conditions of this church (St. Alphonsus Church) were created by the major damage of Katrina. The call for restoration of the building has so far attracted actions and implementations of the strategic action plans that have amounted to $656,000 of the completed work, a report according to National Historic Landmarks (NHL). 3. Public Arts Public art precisely refers to the works of art in any media that have been strategically and logically planned and executed with the determined aim of being sited and staged within the strategic public environments, mostly in the open and accessible to all interested persons. This definition of public Art is fulfilled by monuments, memorials, architectural sculptures, architectures themselves and civic statutory. Cities and towns gain cultural, social and economic values out of the creation of public arts. Public Arts are view as distinguishing parts of the human public history and the cultural evolution which reveals the whole society, and adds values and meanings to towns and uniqueness to the neighboring communities. 3.1. What will happen if the church turn into a public art In our situation, St. Alphonsus is a permanent work that can be integrated with other additional architecture and landscaping in its renovation. The major impacts of turning St. Alphonsus Church would be two folds; negative and positive impacts. 3.1.1. Negative impacts The negative implications though few, will be raised by the Christian community that had been worship at St. Alphonsus Church. i. With action to turn this institution into a public art, the congregation will be split hence weakening the correlations bonds that had existed initially. ii. Several institutions that were associated with the Church would most likely be affected too. For instance, St. Alphonsus School that was integrated in 1948, School Sisters of Notre Dame, and St. Nicholas School. This would mean sacrificing the education exercise for the purpose of creating public arts. 3.1.2. Positive impacts i. Social value and Place making: the public art would form a reflection of that particular place and time. Hence helping to date back to the history of the development i.e. of St. Alphonsus Church and its subsequent leaders. Therefore, with the steps to make this church a public art would definitely qualify it as a place maker in the human settlements. ii. Cultural and Community identity: towns and cities with strong public art expressions have the impressive benefits of breaking the current aspects of blandness and similarities in town structures due to developments everywhere in the world. When people think about memorable places then they would have St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in mind. Meaning that lack of such public art centers in our societies, towns and cities would imply absence of human identity. iii. Economic value and Regeneration: Economically, arts are highly cost effective in the driving of the economic revitalization in the urban regions. This means therefore that the idea to have this institution changed into a public art by the Municipality has foreseen benefits of raising the status of the town after its renovations. Through building and reinforcing community culture, such public arts can also act as catalysts for community generation or regeneration as well. iv. Arts also have the benefits of raising and shaping human consciousness, creating a collective attitude, creating inspirations, modeling/ remaking human behaviors, and reducing stress through relaxation, sports and entertainments. v. Public Arts are also symbols of any city’s maturity through its increasing of community’s assets and expression of the surrounding communities’ positive sense of identity and values. vi. Such assets (Public Arts) would also demonstrate unique civic and corporate pride in the citizenship and create educational environments. 3.2. Municipality’s roles in changing the church into public art. So as to make the transition/ change of the St. Alphonsus Church into a Public Art, the Municipality has to come up with the Public Art Contextual Plan which establishes the guiding principles that can be used for the inclusion of public work and the work of artists throughout the town. It will serve three principle purposes: i. This Contextual Plan will facilitate the identification of policies that may be used to achieve the intent and commitment to the public art with the necessity to create strong connections between residents and specific places/ points identified as important to the community and civic life. ii. The contextual plan will also establish a framework for the public Art that will be able to compliment and build on the work of the town ordinances. iii. Identification of available opportunities i.e. St. Alphonsus Church, for public art projects as based of its distinctive and visual characteristics. Development architectures and raised landscape patterns and gathering points and narratives that contribute towards: Short-term projects which are in relation to the public services, facilities of the community and the available local infrastructure. Long-term strategies detailing the town design and capital improvements meant to shape and reshape both private and public development. Instances for artists to get involved in the design of any natural and built environments (such as the church) to focus the thinking mannerisms and aesthetics’ responses as far as the town is. The Municipality would also be charged with the major task of reinforcing and renovating sections of the structure that rendered it not fit for human security. This would mean replacement of the roofing structure that was affected most. Basing on the idea of setting up the Public Art, the Municipality has to ensure that there are adequate policies that are directly linked to the success of the public art. The policies will have four key drivers i.e. i. Diversity Diversity is very critical to developing visually impressing sites. It should therefore be used as it supports the larger range of art forms and manmade structure for the purposes of temporary and permanent artworks. ii. Creativity The authority (municipal) has to consider application of creativity skills. News ideologies in thinking and development of innovative processes rather than the artistic works found in the church will see to the achievement of the environment’s success. iii. Strategic approach to the action of public art commissioning A note on the intended public art to promote policy issues regarding to the town’s life as well as the aspects of Christianity as a religion have to be emphasized. Considering the positive historical records of the church, its high public profile has to be given strategic approach by the Municipal in bid to allowing for planned and purposeful commissioning of the church. iv. Managing and promoting the Municipal’s public art collection. In the action plan the stakeholders should ensure that active preservation and promotion of the Church’s cultural assets are able to promote and encourage pride in, and knowledge of, its significant public art collection. Promotion through the use of both print and digital advertising media will enable inform to reach the whole community and the world. References Delor J., Arnaud, J.L., (2004), Memories, Plon Publishing House, Paris Dimitrova S., Petrova E. (2011). European Citizens through Lifelong Learning, in: “Proceedings for KBO conference”, Land Forces Academy, Sibiu Petrova, E., (2011), Aspects of the problem of Creating A Global Community Cultural Values, in: “Annual Conference of The Bulgarian Scientifics”, Veliko Tarnovo Petrova, E., Georgiev, M., (2010), Promotion of regional identity to create a supranational community cultural values through creative joint initiatives, a project proposal under the „Europe for Citizens", for Foundation "Forum of the Regions", Brussels Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art, edited by Suzanne Lacy. Bay Press, 1995. Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics, Rosalyn Deutsche. MIT Press, 1998. 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