The Gather Area
Main Entry Doors   Everyone that comes through these doors revisits that union and senses the bigger, grander doors as they transition from ordinary space to sacred space. The doors and details are brass with a rectangular grid and flowerets spaced randomly in that grid. The door handles are in the quatrefoil shape and proportional in size to the entry doors. All the details coincide with the interior design.
Tree of Life Window

 The Tree of Life Window ties both the Hebrew and the Christian scriptures together. It was through a tree that our first parents, Adam and Eve, fell from grace and were expelled from the garden of Eden. The Tree of Life is the symbol which reconciles us to God. The image refers to the cross of Jesus. In a sense, one tree brought us death and one tree brings us back to life. The medievals went so far as to believe that the wood of Jesus’ cross was made from the same tree that brought death to Adam and Eve.

The tree is also the image of the connection between heaven and earth. The tree is rooted in the soil of the earth but its branches are entwined in the heavens. The tree is the image of the church, a people on a pilgrimage toward heaven.

We begin our journey in baptism, suggested by the soft blue water forms at the lower right of the window. The window proclaims the hope and conviction that the St. Patrick’s community will flourish and continue to bear good fruit.

The Reconciliation Chapel  The Reconciliation Chapel which was installed in the back of the church in the late ’80s and which covered the Cana Window was removed.  Space for the new Reconciliation Chapel was made on the north side of the gathering area adjacent to the baptismal font. Both sacraments go together.
Processional Cross  The processional cross, a gift from Bishop Anthony Milone (usually placed in Reconciliation Chapel), is a jewelled cross surrounded by a bronze halo of leaves which symbolizes Christ’s victory over death. This cross does not have a corpus on it because there is already a large figure of the crucified Christ in the Church. The five Jewels are symbols of Jesus’ Passion and victory over death. Whenever the church gathers to worship, the cross always leads the procession. It is the standard or banner of the people of God.
Saint Patrick

 

 Glass walls and doors enhance the light and the sense of openness in the gathering area and the Reconciliation Chapel. The appliques are a reproduction of the original rose window which used to be over the balcony .

• Saint Patrick as our patron greets people and watches over our coming and our going.

 

The Name