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By: Reverend Ronald Oakham, O.Carm. Pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Houston, Texas
An adaptation of an advertising slogan for Orange Juice, “The Font isn’t just for baptizing anymore!,” was the impetus for our parish to build a new Baptismal Font. This has been a realization of a hope shared with the community a little over six years ago.
In the early 1960’s when the parish church was built, the Baptismal Font was something only used when celebrating baptism (of infants for the most part). Thus, ours was a small marble basin with a wooden cover set upon a wooden pillar and set apart from the worship space in its own little room (baptistery) with a wrought iron gate securing it when not in use. After the Second Vatican Council, the font was moved into the worship space, but set nearby the altar (still not accessible to the faithful) and covered except for when celebrating baptism. Throughout all these years (both before and after Vatican II), the Church’s liturgical directives for the celebration of various sacraments and sacramentals have called for using Holy Water, for which the Baptismal Font is the primary vessel. However, with the inaccessibility of the font, substitutes were developed: Holy Water Fonts at the doorways and Holy Water Buckets to carry the water to where it would be used. With this physical separation came the loss of the sense that using the Holy Water was a reminder of our baptism.
Six years ago, to symbolize the Church’s understanding of baptism as the entry into Christ and his Church, our original font was placed by the main entry doors, kept uncovered and filled with blessed water. At this entryway we celebrated baptisms of new members and received the bodies of the deceased members. For the Lent-Easter cycle each year, we added a temporary garden pool onto the pillared font, linking the two with a brick façade. This allowed us to celebrate the baptism of adults and children by immersion (our Church’s preferred form of baptism) at the Easter Vigil.
Little by little, regular Sunday attendees began to bless themselves at this font as they entered and left the church. After four years of setting up the temporary font for Lent-Easter, parishioners began to ask when we would install a permanent font (like the other Catholic Churches around us). The folks were ready; it was time to make the move.
With the contribution of time and talent by various parishioners, a font was designed which would not only respect the original style and structure of the worship space while making needed changes, but would also incorporate the Altar Rail which had been removed a good number of years ago. While trying to integrate the arch design which so prominently figured in the main Altar, the designer fashioned the arched backdrop to image a scallop shell upon which smaller shell shaped vessels would be placed through which the water would flow from the upper basin to the lower basin. (These would replace the fonts at the doorways.) In reflecting on the design, the committee really believed it was “inspired.” The use of the old Altar Rail and incorporation of the original design features would appeal to the older Anglo community members whose families built the church, while the shell imagery would appeal to the newer Hispanic community members who use a shell (a concha) as the vessel for pouring the water at baptisms.
Our hope for a new font became a reality on our Patronal Feast Day (July 16th). During a celebration of Solemn Vespers that Sunday afternoon, we “opened the font” allowing the water to flow and blessed this worthy vessel for its labor of birthing, blessing, and bidding farewell to all those who have been initiated into Christ through the sacred waters of baptism.
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