The Cathedral of the Holy Angels is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

located in

Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is the seat of the Diocese of Gary, and the home of Holy Angels Parish.

History

Holy Angels Parish was established by the Rev. Thomas F. Jansen in September 1906 in the Diocese of Fort Wayne. It was the first

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

founded in the city of Gary. The initial Masses in the parish were celebrated in a tavern at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Broadway. The first parish building was a combination church and school. The parishioners were mostly Eastern European, Irish, German and Italian. Holy Angels School opened in 1909 with the

School Sisters of Notre Dame School Sisters of Notre Dame is a worldwide religious institute of Roman Catholic sisters founded in Bavaria in 1833 and devoted to primary, secondary, and post-secondary education. Their life in mission centers on prayer, community life and mi ...

as the faculty. The parish grew slowly and by the 1940s there was a need for a larger church building. The Rev. John A. Sullivan was the

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

when the present church was built in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. The

cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over time ...

was laid on October 26, 1947, and it was dedicated on January 29, 1950, by Bishop

John F. Noll John Francis Noll (January 25, 1875 – July 31, 1956) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Fort Wayne from 1925 until his death in 1956. Noll was active in national church organizations. In 1912, he foun ...

. When

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

established the Diocese of Gary on December 10, 1956, Holy Angels Church became the

of the new diocese. In the 1960s the primarily Caucasian parish began to change as African American and Latin American parishioners joined Holy Angels when St. Anthony's and Sacred Heart churches closed. The school building and

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

were torn down in 1965 when a new two-story facility was built for $1.2 million. The building contained school classrooms, a convent, gymnasium, cafeteria and space for a parish hall. On June 7, 1994, the name of the school was changed to the Sister

Thea Bowman Thea Bowman, FSPA (born Bertha Elizabeth Bowman; December 29, 1937 – March 30, 1990) was a Black Catholic religious sister, teacher, musician, liturgist and scholar who made major contributions to the ministry of the Catholic Church toward Af ...

School. It is now a charter school named the

Thea Bowman Leadership Academy Thea Bowman Leadership Academy is a K-12 charter school in Gary, Indiana. It is authorized by Ball State University, was established by the Drexel Foundation for Educational Excellence, Inc., and is managed by American Quality Schools, Inc. The ...

Architecture

On entering the worship space one encounters the baptismal pool and then is led to the altar, which is located in the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

. The pool is made of

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a pro ...

marble and the four pillars at the base are from the old

high altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paganis ...

. The base and the top of the

ambry An ambry (or ''almery'', ''aumbry''; from the medieval form ''almarium'', cf. Lat. ''armārium'', "a place for keeping tools"; cf. O. Fr. ''aumoire'' and mod. armoire) is a recessed cabinet in the wall of a Christian church (building), church for s ...

, where the holy oils are kept, is the former baptismal font. The upper section is made from black walnut. The altar is constructed of marble and is roughly square in shape. In the floor surrounding the altar are angels in

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

. They reflect the diversity of the human race and of the diocese itself: African, Caucasian, Asian and Latin. In the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

of the cathedral is the

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...

from the old high altar with a Calvary grouping. The

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the raised throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

, or bishop's chair, sits in the presbytery in front of the old reredos. It is carved from black walnut and was installed in 1996. A carved angel stands next to the chair. The

ambo Ambo may refer to: Places * Ambo, Kiribati * Ambo Province, Huanuco Region, Peru ** Ambo District ** Ambo, Peru, capital of Ambo District * Ambo Town, a town in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia ** Ambo, Ethiopia, a capital of West Shewa Zone ...

is constructed of the same materials as the altar and reredos. The

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

is located in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. A cross is formed behind the tabernacle by four carved angels in adoration. The shrine of the Holy Angels is in the east transept. It includes an icon of the ''Synaxis of the Holy Angels'', which was done in an

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...

style. The shrine is dedicated to deceased parishioners and priests of the diocese. Bishop

Andrew Gregory Grutka Andrew Gregory Grutka (November 17, 1908 – November 11, 1993) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as first bishop of the Diocese of Gary in Indiana from 1956 to 1984. Biography Early life Andrew Grutka was bor ...

, the first bishop of Gary, was laid to rest here in 1993.

Pastors/Rectors

The following priests have served as the parish pastors and since 1956 they have served as cathedral rector and carry the title "Very Reverend": # Msgr. F. Thomas Jansen (1906–1942) # Msgr. John A. Sullivan (1942–1963) # Rev. John C. Witte (1963–1968) # Rev. Casimir E. Sederak (1968–1971) # Rev. Don C. Grass (1971–1983) # Rev. Richard A. Emerson (1983) # Msgr. Joseph A. Viater (1983–1985) # Rev. William E. Vogt (1985–1986) # Rev. Andrew Daniels, OFM Cap (1986–1992) # Rev. Matthew Iwuji (1992–1997) # Rev. Robert P. Gehring (1997–2007) # Rev. Jon J. Plavcan (2007–2012) # Rev. Michael J. Kopil (2012-2016) # Rev. Kevin P. McCarthy (2016–2018) # Rev. Michael Surufka, OFM (2019–)

References

External links

Official Cathedral SiteDiocese of Gary Official Site
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary, state=collapsed Christian organizations established in 1906 Holy Angels Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary Gothic Revival church buildings in Indiana Churches in Gary, Indiana Churches in Lake County, Indiana 1906 establishments in Indiana

History

Architecture

Pastors/Rectors

See also

References

External links