Take my advice and purge this nonsense out of the church before it destroys it, the way it has the Episcopal Church. You have a free example of the end result, right in front of you. I don't recommend it.
The depth of your knowledge, personal experience and humble wisdom, are a refreshing adjunct to the standard posts from the majority of catholics - perhaps because we lack the experience of having traversed the road to Rome.
I am particularly impressed with your knowledge of church architecture, and thought you might enjoy a situation in which I am currently involved.
The Maronite Catholic Church I attend is housed in a small building, originally built by the parishioners as a shrine, adjacent to their church. Many years ago, fire broke out in the church and the building had to be raised. The community was quite small and with insufficient funds to reconstruct the church, they had the shrine dedicated as their church. It looks much like a Baptist Revival Church on the outside. Inside, the cinder block walls are covered with wood paneling; above are ceiling tiles, from which hang beautiful chandeliers. The community may be small but they are quite proud, and rightfully so.
Three years ago, a Lebanese born priest was assigned to the parish. Recently ordained, this was his first ministry. He asked the parishioners what it was they most wanted to accomplish, and they replied - a real church. He committed himself to their goal and together, they began to seriously raise funds. Initially, some of those monies were spent to complete the transformation of the shrine into a church. Once that was completed, they went at it heart and soul.
Then two years ago, they found a benefactor who committed a generous amount of money to the community if they could raise the matching funds. They redoubled their efforts but in the end fell short. Recognizing just how small a group they were, he gave them the full amount originally promised.
Using those monies, Father went out with a parish group, in search of an existing church. They found one, across the river, which had been boarded up for the past 50 years. The owners of the church had been given several generous offers over the years by commercial enterprises that wanted to tear down the church and replace it with a mini shopping mall. They wouldn't budge. When Father approached them, they cut him a great deal on condition that he maintain the physical structure of the church. They were less concerned about the religious denomination than over maintaining the church, for the purpose for which it was constructed - to worship God.
That is the background on this endeavor. I attended their Divine Liturgy in March of this year, felt truly called to the Maronite Tradition, and joined the parish 3 weeks later. Like you, I am still floating on air.
Two weeks ago, I had an opportunity to see the "new" church, when I dropped off a volunteer, a young man who want to convert from the Methodist faith to the Catholic faith. He went there to lend a hand with the tremendous workload of clearing out overgrown trees, shrubs, debris, etc. The actual church is one level up - the ground floor, originally intended to serve as classrooms and the like. As I made my way upstairs, I noticed the peeling paint and missing plaster on the walls. The church is old! As I rounded the top of the stairs and made my way towards the Sanctuary, I noticed the sign that had once hung proudly outside. It read:
Ohio Street Methodist/Episcopal Church
1850
The Sanctuary is magnificent! Wood ceiling, original, numbered pews, and an altar rail that surrounds the Sanctuary with some of the original cushions still in place on the kneeler! I encouraged the pastor (actually, Father was the 'Administrator'; as of tomorrow, he has officially been appointed 'Pastor' by the Bishop of the Eparchy), to complete the paperwork necessary to have the church placed on the NYS Landmark Register. There were many concerns, as they had looked into this in the past. Father intends to restore the church to its original glory; however, as a Maronite community, the Sanctuary would and should support the design elements of the Maronite Catholic Church. With nothing to lose, I called the Registry Office and today, one of their staff met with Father and a member of the parish council. The gentleman was so excited at what he saw that he now wants to bring his supervisor over to see it for himself. He said the church is Greek Revival and was most impressed by the fact that the Maronite community had retained the original pews, along with so many of the other original elements from this old church.
Father desperately needs monies to complete the transformation. If the church is approved for landmark status, the state will give him matching funds on past investments, as well as future ones. The meeting today was most unusual; normally, the Registry staff never leave their offices. They did so in deference to my position within the state and, as expected, were so impressed with what they saw. Please keep 'Abouna' (that is Lebanese for 'Loving Father'. You may recognize the genesis of this word: 'Abba') in your prayers. I will be over there on Saturday to take pictures and assist in completing the paperwork. Just down the block from our 'new' church, is the Ukrainian Catholic Church. They have benefited in the past from the same program, intended to retain the 'heritage' of older communities.
My point in posting this story is that while some 'churches' benefit from diocesan funds to hold 'frivolous' events such as the one depicted above, other communities, such as ours, are struggling to retain the rich tradition and heritage of our past, dating all the way back to the first Apostles. Archaelogical digs have confirmed that the first Maronite Churches were built on the foundations of Jewish Synagogues. To this day, the Maronite Church retains many of those design elements as part of their church structure, especially the 'bema', where the Gospel is proclaimed each week.