Photos Of The Remodeling At Atonement San Antonio

A visitor has kindly forwarded photos, apparently from Facebook, of the rearrangement of the altars in the Our Lady of the Atonement parish in San Antonio. To reiterate, this blog takes no official position on this project. The two photos below show the former triptych in its original state, and the space where it had been removed after the Sunday morning masses on June 21, with the altar from the Mary chapel being moved into place.

The visitor commented,

So the altar "remodeling" has begun. And it should come as no surprise. There's Atonement drama, per my friends that are still parishioners.

Sunday after the 9:00 and 11:00 but before the 6:00 PM Mass the redecorating began. Not sure why they couldn't wait one more day.

The worst by far, and I'm still reeling from it, was three men (volunteers I'm assuming) standing on the altar, with their shoes. Nothing covering the altar at all. One guy in flip flops, ya know like beach wear. On the holy altar. A consecrated altar.. I'm told Father Lewis was present while this was going on.

The Mary Chapel was completely dismantled by 6:00pm mass. People who were unaware of Lewis's grand plan where horrified. , , some in tears, some thought it had been vandalized.

Lewis did only give a few days notice as it was.

Below are photos of the Mary chapel altar, before and after:

The visitor concludes,

There has to be some serious canon Law being broken standing on the Holy Altar. I would hope at minimum it will be reconsecrated, but I wouldn't hold my breath.. Especially under Bishop Lopes from what I hear.

Some are thinking of sending the photo to Church Militant.

Well, Church Militant has its own agenda and its own conventional wisdom to maintain -- there are good guys and bad guys, and so far, Bp Lopes is a good guy. You can send them photos, but they just ignore anything that doesn't fit.

My regular correspondent comments,

: I can understand that some people at the parish may prefer the previous arrangement, or at least feel that the consultation process was inadequate. I know that change can be painful, and having no say in the process can add to the pain. Why people living in Ottawa or Orlando care is another matter. It seems evident to me that they are bewailing the perceived dismantling of Fr Phillips’ legacy. As a non-admirer, for the most part, I watch the dismantling dry-eyed.

What strikes me is that after 40 years of the Pastoral Provision, and more than ten years after Anglicanorum coetibus, a single altar, of somewhat controversial esthetics, should so easily become a symbol of the whole Anglican project. Whether the people who are focusing on it are paying attention to anything else happening in the world is also an interesting question.