After several months of anticipation, the renewal and restoration at Good Shepherd Church in Camp Hill was unveiled Saturday evening, revealing beautiful renovations as parishioners entered their church for the first time since May.
At the heart of it all – a new marble altar, a restored and relocated tabernacle, and a new crucifix that visibly unite heaven and earth and connect Christ’s sacrifice on the cross with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The marble altar, which carries historical significance, was dedicated September 12 in a solemn and symbolic Mass celebrated by Bishop Timothy Senior, who called it “a glorious celebration of this parish but also a gift of our Catholic faith.”
“The altar is the center of the life of the church, the life of the parish,” he said.
The renewed worship space – which also includes a marble ambo and flooring, shrines to the Good Shepherd, the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph and statues of the four evangelists – was made possible by the parish’s $2.9 million capital campaign, “Now is the Time.” It comes in conjunction with the parish’s 75th anniversary this year and the church’s 50th anniversary in 2027.
Upholstered pews, an upgraded baptismal font and improved lighting and sound systems were also part of the project. But the gem of the renewal and restoration is the altar, crafted in Siena and Carrara marble, which comes from the chapel of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary’s Overbook campus. Good Shepherd acquired the altar before the seminary’s relocation to Lower Gwynedd in 2024.
The new altar and ambo come with remarkable history. During visits to the seminary, Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XIV and Pope Francis either presided or celebrated Mass at the altar and St. Theresa of Calcutta spoke at the ambo. In February of this year, Father Neil Sullivan, pastor of Good Shepherd, presented the altar stone for Pope Leo XVI’s blessing at the Vatican.
Father Sullivan concelebrated Mass on the altar during its dedication, alongside native sons and former priests of the parish. Father T. Christopher Redcay and Auxiliary Bishop Keith Chylinski of Philadelphia, current and former rectors of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, respectively, also concelebrated.
“The altar reminds us of the nearness of God,” Bishop Senior said in the homily. “Here, most profoundly, heaven meets the earth. We are so close to our God in the celebration of the Eucharist. We bring to our God in prayer first our desire for forgiveness…. We also bring to him our intentions, our sorrows, our worries, our anxieties as we place them upon the altar and give them to God because he is so close. And we rejoice in his blessings and his graces and give thanks to him.”
“The altar is also a reminder of the sacrifice of Christ and of our own call to discipleship to give our lives as well, to trust so much in God as to hand our lives over,” said the bishop. “It is a place of intimate communion, a place of peace, a place to be fed the Body and Blood of Christ, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to grow in your love.”
“Here too we are united with Jesus in his suffering, death and resurrection. We are formed by what is celebrated upon this altar by the sacrifice offered on this altar. We are formed into his Body. That forms us, together, into the holy communion that is the Church,” Bishop Senior said.
The Order of the Dedication of an Altar began with the congregation singing the Litany of the Saints, which included the martyrs Fulgentius and Castus, whose relics were in the altar of Good Shepherd’s original church on Market and in the previous altar of the current church. They are now encased in the new altar.
Bishop Senior prayed the Prayer of Dedication and anointed the altar with Sacred Chrism, indicative of it being set apart for the celebration of the Eucharist. A brazier with burning incense was then placed on the altar before it was cleaned and decorated with linens, candles and flowers for the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
After Communion, the tabernacle, which had been empty and open at the start of Mass, was inaugurated as Bishop Senior incensed the Eucharist and placed the Blessed Sacrament inside before the tabernacle’s doors were closed.
The brass and bronze tabernacle is fashioned with images of kneeling angels facing the Eucharist. It was originally installed at Good Shepherd in 1978 in a niche to the side of the sanctuary.
In remarks at the conclusion of Mass, Father Sullivan expressed heartfelt gratitude to the many committee members, parish personnel, artisans and professional companies for their work in the renovation project. He also shared his appreciation for the parishioners, for their financial and prayerful support of the campaign and their flexibility and attendance at Mass in the parish hall from May through September.
“A church is the house of God and the home of his people. Through God’s grace, guidance and providence, we have worked so hard to renew and restore this sacred place to honor him and to allow his people to grow in holiness. This whole project is for God’s greater glory,” Father Sullivan said.
“We are home. But the purpose of all of this was never simply to make our church more beautiful. When we entered this evening, the tabernacle stood open and empty. Now the Eucharistic Lord dwells once again in the heart of our sanctuary. This altar has been dedicated; our church has been renewed and restored. And now it is our turn to be renewed.”
“From this altar, may we always be sent forth to become what we receive: the body of Christ for the world,” he said.
(Photos by Chris Heisey, The Catholic Witness.)
By Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness
