On April 2nd we were happy to open the doors at St. Malachy's to a crew of men who installed a stone altar in the sanctuary of our Church.  In addition to the main altar there are two matching pedestals that have been placed to either side of the sanctuary.  We hope to be able to install new statuary in the sactuary near those pedestals.  We have been waiting nearly a year for this project to be completed.

There is a long history of stone altars in Catholic Churches.  While wooden altars are permitted in the United States, the documents of the Church give strong directions about the preference for non-moveable, stone altars.  The General Instruction of the Roman Missal guides the universal Churches liturgical practices in all parts of the world.  It states: "It is appropriate to have a fixed altar in every church, since it more clearly and permanently signifies Christ Jesus, the living stone."  The instruction goes on to state: "In keeping with the Church's tradional practice and the altar's symbolism, the table of the fixed altar is to be of stone and indeed of natural stone."

The base of the altar is marked with one of the most ancient of Christian symbols, the Chi-Rho.  This symbol is called a Christogram, a kind of monogram that comes from superimposing the Greek letters Chi (X) and Rho (P).  These are the first two letters of the Greek title Christ.  In the early church this secret symbol marked homes of early Christians and was even woven into their clothing so that during the time of persecution they could indicate their secret faith to other Christias.  It was the emperor Constantine in 312 AD who first made the symbol a proud public delcaration of the presence of Jesus.

Our new altar is made of South Dakota granite and was quarried at Milbank, South Dakota.  The altar weighs 2,800 pounds and each of the pedestals weighs 1,475 pounds.  The altar was intalled at Sacred Heart Chuch in Ayrshire, Iowa in July of 1981 and consecrated by Bishop Greteman.  As a young priest, Fr. Hughes was present in Ayrshire when the altar was consecrated.  We obtained the altar and pedestals as a gift when Sacred Heart in Ayrshire was closed and sold two years ago.  The beautiful color of the Milbank granite is a great compliment for the brick and the woodwork in our church.  The people of Ayrshire have expressed their gratitude that this beautiful altar has been returned to sacred use once again.

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