St Nick’s Renovation
26 June 2008
An article by Nic Percivall of faithnetsouthwest.
Earlier this year, work began on a massive renovation project in the inner-city parish of St Nicholas of Tolentino in Bristol. The old school building next to the church has been demolished and the parish church is currently a building site. It is all part of an exciting plan making it possible for St Nick’s to continue to be at the heart of, and to serve, the local community.
The church is the second oldest Catholic parish church in the city of Bristol, but it has continually evolved and changes have been made to the buildings over the years, as and when money was available. There is nothing new in what they are doing now in that respect, according to Parish Priest, Father Richard McKay. The church is simply undergoing another change in its long history. The vision underlying all the changes is a parish community committed to offering quality facilities to a deprived community, and creating a place of belonging for so many rejected and stigmatised groups (such as those addicted, brothers and sisters seeking safe asylum, the street homeless). It is to be a beautiful sacred space for the worship of God and the growth of the Body of Christ which is simultaneously a place a belonging, service and healing for broken and wounded of the inner city: truly a sign and servant of the Kingdom.
The new facilities will include an enlarged church complete with a baptismal pool (baptism by immersion is the norm in this church), and a new community hall with an upper mezzanine floor in the back third of the church. In the extension to the church there will be three 'overflow' rooms that can function separately for meetings or be integrated into the church for crowded Sunday celebrations. There will also be an extra medium-size meeting room as an addition to the 'Assisi Centre' (which had formerly been the priests' house, but is now a centre for mission and service in the community). The designers have incorporated a sound proof wall between the community hall and the church to allow both to be used at the same time. A new, larger and more accessible entrance is forms part of the redesign, although currently this is just a huge hole in the wall under the beautiful stained glass window, which was added to the church in the 1880s. The renovations have involved lowering the floors in places and extending the footprint of the building to increase capacity.
At the moment there is a cement mixer in the centre of the building and only the roof and walls, with their stained glass windows, give any indication that this building site is actually a church. But this is all temporary, and if one looks with the vision of Father Richard McKay and the renovation team then one will see a building that is dignified in worship, is open to people of the whole world, serving a community and a congregation which incorporates more than 50 nationalities, and which utilises its premises to the maximum extent in service to the local community.
Father Richard says, ‘The end result will be a church of immense dignity that is continuing a tradition and yet bringing something very much of the 21st century to the whole community’.
For even more about this exciting project listen on our first podcast from St Nick’s and our audio report from last month.
Nic Percivall
An article by Nic Percivall of faithnetsouthwest.
Earlier this year, work began on a massive renovation project in the inner-city parish of St Nicholas of Tolentino in Bristol. The old school building next to the church has been demolished and the parish church is currently a building site. It is all part of an exciting plan making it possible for St Nick’s to continue to be at the heart of, and to serve, the local community.
The church is the second oldest Catholic parish church in the city of Bristol, but it has continually evolved and changes have been made to the buildings over the years, as and when money was available. There is nothing new in what they are doing now in that respect, according to Parish Priest, Father Richard McKay. The church is simply undergoing another change in its long history. The vision underlying all the changes is a parish community committed to offering quality facilities to a deprived community, and creating a place of belonging for so many rejected and stigmatised groups (such as those addicted, brothers and sisters seeking safe asylum, the street homeless). It is to be a beautiful sacred space for the worship of God and the growth of the Body of Christ which is simultaneously a place a belonging, service and healing for broken and wounded of the inner city: truly a sign and servant of the Kingdom.
The new facilities will include an enlarged church complete with a baptismal pool (baptism by immersion is the norm in this church), and a new community hall with an upper mezzanine floor in the back third of the church. In the extension to the church there will be three 'overflow' rooms that can function separately for meetings or be integrated into the church for crowded Sunday celebrations. There will also be an extra medium-size meeting room as an addition to the 'Assisi Centre' (which had formerly been the priests' house, but is now a centre for mission and service in the community). The designers have incorporated a sound proof wall between the community hall and the church to allow both to be used at the same time. A new, larger and more accessible entrance is forms part of the redesign, although currently this is just a huge hole in the wall under the beautiful stained glass window, which was added to the church in the 1880s. The renovations have involved lowering the floors in places and extending the footprint of the building to increase capacity.
At the moment there is a cement mixer in the centre of the building and only the roof and walls, with their stained glass windows, give any indication that this building site is actually a church. But this is all temporary, and if one looks with the vision of Father Richard McKay and the renovation team then one will see a building that is dignified in worship, is open to people of the whole world, serving a community and a congregation which incorporates more than 50 nationalities, and which utilises its premises to the maximum extent in service to the local community.
Father Richard says, ‘The end result will be a church of immense dignity that is continuing a tradition and yet bringing something very much of the 21st century to the whole community’.
For even more about this exciting project listen on our first podcast from St Nick’s and our audio report from last month.
Nic Percivall
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