Last year, the Fraternity of St Peter was invited into the diocese of Providence, Rhode Island by Bishop Thomas Tobin, and given the church of St Mary on Broadway. Shortly after they arrived, the forward-facing altar was removed from the sanctuary; an important second step has just been taken with the removal of the carpet, and the restoration of the altar rail. Here are some pictures, showing the progress of the restoration. As a reminder, on Saturday, October 26th, the church will host Bishop Athanasius Schneider for the priestly ordination of Deacon William Rock FSSP, whom we also thank for these pictures.
The sanctuary as it was.
The forward-facing altar was removed almost immediately, which required the rental of a marble-saw, since it was fixed into the floor. This left four large gaps in the carpet, which were covered over by a rug. (This rug, donated by my sister, previously belonged to my parents, and was in their dining room for about 30 years; it probably still has depressions in it from the legs of our old dining room table.) The blue carpet was removed from the steps and predella of the high altar; this photo was taken at Christmas of last year.
By Corpus Christi of this year, the sanctuary was completely stripped of carpet, and the floor was in the middle of a good cleaning.
As of this writing, a new altar rail has been installed, acquired from a church in Boston which closed. Parts of the pattern on the floor were repainted to match the marble inlays in the altar rail; the floor was cleaned and polyurethane applied over the summer and early fall of this year.
