Our Lady & St Patrick's Church Ballymoney

The interior of a Catholic church always begins with the altar. Since the Second Vatican Council a freestanding altar has been a prerequisite and so here a new altar has been installed at the centre of an enlarged sanctuary. Rooney & McConville were appointed for the liturgical renovation as part of the design team for a general refurbishment led by Bernard McGuiness, McGuiness Architects.

The new altar is nearer to the congregation and is made from Portland stone sculpted to suggest the shape of a chalice, or cupped hands supporting a Carrera marble mensa – the top of the altar. By virtue of its shape it appears to emerge out of the floor indicating that it is solid and rooted to the ground. It is also the remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice, the death of the Son of God, and so its rectangular shape suggests a sarcophagus.

A less successful aspect of the project but an example of how R&McC work, is the retention of the pulpit. Whilst a beautiful feature in itself, it distracts from the current Place of the Word, the ambo. The pulpit can not be used as an ambo due to its historical association with preaching/exclusively clerical usage, and because it is inaccessible to the physically challenged. The Word of God is now proclaimed by both lay and clerical who require dignified access to the Place of the Word.

The pulpit was retained at the request of the client committee after challenge and discussion.

The dignity of the Word of God requires a special place for its proclamation because when the Gospel is proclaimed Christ is truly present. This takes place at the ambo and hence it is substantial but yet defers to the person who is reading, as it is in the act of reading that Christ becomes present. It is formed from the same substantial materials as the altar, Portland stone and Carrera marble, and is similar in shape. It is placed towards the front of the new sanctuary so that reader can be easily seen and heard.

The design of the floor of the new sanctuary has been influenced by the encaustic tiled floor of the original sanctuary. By necessity the central section of encaustic tiles has been covered by the new raised floor but the original tiles have been retained and are still visible at the side altars. The new section resembles the original but is clearly contemporary so that the sanctuary remains an integrated whole even though it consists of new and old. The floor is different again and on a different level in the vicinity of the tabernacle, which is retained in the reredos. Here the floor and steps are exclusively Carrera marble emphasising the difference between the Reserved Sacrament in the tabernacle, and the celebration of the Eucharist at the altar.

A new baptismal font, again formed from Portland stone and Carrera marble, has been installed at the entrance to the church. As baptism is the sacrament of entry into the Catholic Church, so it is appropriate to locate the font at the entrance to the church building. It stands as a silent reminder of our Christian commitment every time we enter the church. The floor design at the font takes its cue from patterns in the encaustic tiles and creates a baptismal area that is the beginning of our faith journey to the altar on the sanctuary.