Baptism, Word, Eucharist: Font, Ambo, Altar
Plans for this chapel began in 1962 at the start of the Second Vatican Council. It was dedicated in October 1968, barely three years after the close of the council. The sisters could not at that time have fully grasped the changes coming to the church and to their way of life and mission.
Three early 21st century adaptations to the chapel signal a shift through which we can see the impact of the prophetic nature of the reforms of the council.
The liturgical furnishings in the chapel are functional for its purpose. It is not a parish church, where the faith community welcomes and baptizes children and adults. There are no weddings performed here, though there was, in an unusual instance on one occasion, a rite of Confirmation.
Because there would be no baptisms performed here, the chapel was built without a baptismal font. In the years after the Second Vatican Council, the church began to recognize the primacy of Baptism as the universal sacrament of “call” for ministry by all the faithful. The sisters added the beautiful font near the chapel entrance to help them call to mind it is this sacrament that is fundamental to their call to a life of consecrated poverty, celibacy, and obedience.
The marble of the base of the font was reclaimed from the altar of repose in the old Sacred Heart Convent Chapel built in 1904. The top is carved from a second altar that once occupied the space at the transept where the nave intersects with the smaller chapel.
The remainder of the marble from that second altar was fashioned into the ambo—the prominent reading desk, or lectern, from which the Word of God is proclaimed and preached during Mass. This addition to the chapel signifies much more than a change of furnishings. Like baptism, sacred Scripture is at the heart of Christian and Dominican life. With the new ambo, mirroring the style of the altar where Eucharist is celebrated, the Dominican Sisters claim their charism as members of the Order of Preachers.
Finally, some of that marble from the second altar was fashioned into the pedestal on which rests the tabernacle, housing the consecrated bread that Christians believe is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. By mirroring the silhouette of the main altar, this pedestal reminds us that the celebration of Eucharist and the presence of the Christ in the reserved sacrament are signs of the salvific nature of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection.
These three liturgical furnishings: font, ambo, and altar, are reminders of the fundamentals of Christian faith in the call to ministry that flows from the waters of Baptism, is shared in the breaking open of the Word of God, poured out in body and blood of Jesus, and commemorated each time we celebrate Eucharist.
