The Cathedral of the Holy Angels is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

located in

Gary, Indiana Gary ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 69,093 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it Indiana's List of municipalities in Indiana, eleventh-most populous city. The city has been historical ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 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 Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

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 min ...

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 to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

when the present church was built in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style. The

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

was laid on October 26, 1947, and it was dedicated on January 29, 1950, by Bishop John F. Noll. When

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

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 an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term 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 Mary 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 tow ...

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 was established by the Drexel Foundation for Educational Excellence, Inc., and is managed by American Quality Schools, Inc. The school is named after Sr Thea Bowman, ...

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 ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

. 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 rusty varieties. It is formed by a process ...

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 religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

. 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 Christianity, Christian church (building) ...

, 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 (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

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

of the cathedral is the

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

from the old high altar with a Calvary grouping. The

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the 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 * Ambō (also spelled Anbō), Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan * Ambo Province, Huanuco Region, Peru ** Ambo District ** Ambo, Peru, capital of Ambo District * Ambo, Ethiopia, a capital of West Shewa Zon ...

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

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

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, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

n- Coptic style. The shrine is dedicated to deceased parishioners and priests of the diocese. Bishop Andrew Gregory Grutka, 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