Church to unveil sculptural relief

COSTA MESA ? From the moment they enter the new bronze front doors depicting the baptism of Christ, parishioners at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church will know they’re not in their old sanctuary anymore.

Church officials today will unveil an enormous, hand-carved relief that’s the centerpiece of a $3-million renovation at St. John the Baptist on Baker Street. On Sunday the church will be formally dedicated for the first time since its founding in 1960.

“This is the most significant change this church has had since it was built,” said Father Hildebrand Garceau, the church’s pastor since mid-2005.

As a spiritual community, St. John the Baptist is older than the building it now uses. A small church and school were built nearby in 1880, and in the 1940s, the Santa Ana Army Air Base also had a chapel in the area.

Construction on the modern church building began in 1958. It was originally an overflow facility to ease crowding at St. Joachim Church on Orange Street, but in 1960 it was officially designated as a separate church.

Earlier plans called for a new church, but in 2004, church officials decided instead to renovate the existing building. The work began about 10 months ago and will be almost complete in time for the unveiling and dedication this weekend.

Parishioners will see the contrast in the bright space decorated with art, versus the plain, dimly lighted hall they were used to, Garceau said.

“It was dusty; it was sooty; there was dark carpeting on the sanctuary floors that really didn’t help the space that much,” he said.

Now the walls are white in between seven wood panels, placed at intervals, that hold the stations of the cross. A new marble altar; wooden statues of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph; and other pieces were custom-made in Spain.

But the highlights of the renovation are the relief, depicting St. John the Baptist pointing to Christ as the lamb of God, and the Eucharistic chapel decorated with alabaster and marble. The relief is behind the altar, and the chapel is on the back side of the relief.

“That’s probably the most striking and significant change,” Garceau said. “It’s a much brighter, acoustically live space than it was before. Also it’s a much more symbolically significant space too, because of the artwork.”

Parishioners can see the relief unveiled tonight, and Garceau said they’ve been eager to use the new worship space.

Dennis Clark, who lives within walking distance of the church and has attended for 43 years, said the bronze doors reminded him of grand old churches in Rome and Florence. He’s excited about the art, he said, but also about the new air conditioning, which the church has never had.

During the long renovation period, some parishioners trickled away to other churches, but Clark would like to see them return.

“I’m just very hopeful that they’ll come back now that we have a church that is completed,” Clark said. “If I were to put a message out to our parish community, it’s ‘Come home and see your new church.’ ”