Sheila Sims Iding
Today is the Feast of Exaltation of the Holy Cross. At mass this evening at St. Gerard Church we celebrated Holy Cross Parish and the memories came flooding back. I don’t remember when I first walked into Holy Cross Church but I do remember the pew I sat in when I fell in love with the church. It was the Barrons’ Family pew. When I lived with them that summer I would go to Holy Cross church with them on Sunday morning. And I am not sure which Sunday morning it was that I fell in love with the church…I just know I did.
I grew up attending St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and I LOVED that church. I still love that church. It was fancy and gorgeous and the big stained-glass window with Jesus as a shepherd still feels like home. More stained glass windows adorn the sides of the church and a huge one decorates the back of the church. The altar was marble, the communion rail was as golden as the pulpit, the lights looked like chandeliers and the dark red carpet seemed like velvet. It was pretty impressive for a poor girl from the country. Once a week on a Sunday morning I felt like I was in a palace…in heaven.
So when I went to Holy Cross Church it couldn’t compare with the ornate beauty of my home church but wherever the Barrons’ family was that summer was home to me. So I sat in their pew and didn’t judge the simplicity of this Franciscan church…I fell in love with it. The simplicity of the church was its beauty. The pieces of glass that made up the stained-glass windows didn’t form the shape of any shepherd or saint but it formed it’s own splendor…especially when the sunlight hit it just right. The communion rail was as wooden as the altar and the floor was tile. And the simple beauty not only spoke of the Franciscan mission, it spoke to my Episcopal heart…and called me to be Catholic.
Many people think I turned Catholic because of Pat Iding and our marriage. Actually, I turned Catholic before Pat Iding. I turned Catholic because of the Barrons’ family…in that pew…in that church where the Mary statue was in plain sight of my vision…and my heart.
Many, many years ago when Holy Cross parish was bursting at the seams, the bishop rendered a new church be formed. That church became St. Gerard church. Because Holy Cross was so strong, St. Gerard church was born and Holy Cross became our Mother church. A few years ago the new bishop made the decision to close Holy Cross Church. It’s a decision some of us disagreed with…not that it mattered. It’s a decision that broke many hearts…because it did matter.
Today on the Feast of the Holy Cross we celebrated the Holy Cross parishioners that joined our church. We celebrated their once proud…always proud…Holy Cross parish. We celebrated the parts of Holy Cross that now adorn our church…including a cross, a plaque, and, more importantly, the people. The altar cloth we used today was the altar cloth from Fr. Brian Barrons’ first mass at Holy Cross. It used to be on plain wooden altar, in a simply beautiful church, near a family pew where I fell in love with Holy Cross Church.