New altar designed by Immaculate Conception pastor

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
March 23, 2006

CHEROKEE - Immaculate Conception Church in Cherokee has a new altar and other new pieces of furniture that were created with designs by Father Armand Bertrand, pastor.

Bishop R. Walker Nickless will consecrate the altar during a Mass at 6 p.m. on April 1. Anyone is invited to attend. There will be a meal following the Mass.

Father Bertrand pointed out that he and his parishioners are anxious for Bishop Nickless "to come on April 1 and celebrate with us and consecrate this beautiful altar. We are so privileged to have him come and celebrate with us."

According to Father Bertrand, the project started several years ago when the furniture that was in the sanctuary started to give way. It was laminated plywood and a lot of the lamination was falling off.

"It was becoming very unsightly," said the pastor. "Since this (the altar) is the most important item in the church, we needed to replace it with something of great dignity."

He added that he sat down with a piece of graph paper and started to sketch different designs for the altar "trying to incorporate the architecture of this old church, which had been lost in its renovation."

The priest wanted to bring some of the architectural elements down from the ceiling into the space in the sanctuary.

"I kept that in mind as I was designing the altar," said Father Bertrand. "As I was continuing the design, I also wanted to incorporate the Maltese cross in the top in the design of the altar. I thought this was going to be cost prohibitive, but one of my parishioners said, 'no problem.' I went ahead and designed it this way."

Father Bertrand explained that when the designs were complete, they were submitted to the diocesan commission and the designs were approved for the altar, the ambo and the tabernacle pedestal. He added that the chairs in the sanctuary also needed to be replaced.

"I got the design for the chairs from the chairs that now exist in the Cathedral," he said. "I discovered that the chairs in the Cathedral had been designed by the same man who designed IC Church in Cherokee. His name is Steel."

It was decided to copy the design of the chairs because the chairs contained elements of the architecture of Immaculate Conception Church, Father Bertrand pointed out.

"There was not a dime of parish funds spent for the project," said Father Bertrand. "This was all memorials left by people who wanted to memorialize their loved ones with a gift to the church. That is where all the monies came from to pay for the items."

The altar is made of oak, walnut and natural maple woods. It is solid wood, noted the pastor. He added that there are no laminents in the altar nor pieces of plywood.

"It takes at least 12 guys to try and lift it," said Father Bertrand. "It came in here in two pieces. It was that heavy. The top just sits right on top."

Gunders Church Furniture in Humboldt made the furniture from Father Bertrand's design. He mentioned that his initial intention was to have solid blocks of wood on the top.

"Because they know a little bit more about woods than I do, they suggested this butcher block type assembly," said the priest. "It is still solid woods, but it is put together with pieces of wood rather than just one big chunk of wood. It allows the woods to move and swell without having to crack."

The altar was assembled like a jigsaw puzzle - putting each piece in precisely to make them fit.

"An altar is the centerpiece of church," said Father Bertrand. "It is the central focus point of the entire liturgical celebration. The altar should not be something made out of laminated plywood. It should be something that is substantial."

Another addition to the sanctuary were two window-like arches that were put on the backdrop behind the chairs. Father Bertrand commented that he thinks this was very effective.

Father Bertrand explained that he enjoyed being able to contribute his designs to the church.

"It was something that was different," he said. "I enjoy doing design. I liked designing this altar furniture. I had done it before in Fonda. It was relaxing for me to be able to do that. It helps along with the stress of ministry. This was fun."