Insider's View of OLG Church Dedication

Members of Our Lady of Guadalupe Roman Catholic Church celebrated Mass Sunday in their new home – it’s first official Sabbath following the church’s dedication ceremony the day before.

The process of building the 1,200-seat church in Buckingham has taken 11 years – ever since the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced it would form a new parish for the area.

Chet Heinz, a church parishioner who has been chronicling the building process in photographs for Guadalupe’s website, graciously submitted some additional photos of Saturday’s Rite of Dedication – a religious ritual as ancient as the Roman Catholic Church is itself and filled with symbolism.

It begins with the new building being presented to Justin Cardinal Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia and principal celebrant, prior to entrance. According to the program booklet, a parish history, blueprints, a description of the interior décor and keys are offered. The cardinal entrusts the keys to the pastoral care of the Rev. Msgr. Joseph Gentili, the doors are unlocked and the cardinal leads the way inside.

The entrance procession represents the gathering of God's people in His house, where He will meet with them.

As the ceremony begins, the relics of St. John Neumann and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, both with ties to the Philadelphia area, were placed and sealed in the church altar.

Cardinal Rigali then pours chrism, pure olive oil that has been consecrated and infused with rich fragrance, onto the middle of the altar and onto each of the four corners, spreading it over the entire surface, as an act of consecration. The walls are then anointed in four places, signifying the church is an image of the holy city of Jerusalem. The anointing marks the new church as a house of worship.

Incense is burned at the altar and marked through the church to symbolize that people are living temples of the Spirit and prayer occurs throughout the structure.

To honor “the table of the Lord,” the stone altar is covered with a white cloth, decorated with flowers and lit with candles. The Paschal candle, lit for this ceremony and then only again at Easter, is lit first. It represents that Christ is “a light to enlighten the nations,” with a brightness that shines in the church and through it, all of humanity.