Ad majorem Dei gloriam – To the greater glory of God!

When I was in year seven my homeroom teacher, Mr Brady, taught us from the first day of school to rule the margins of each page with read pen and then to write at the top of each page the initials, AMDG. We were told it stood for “All My Duties to God” and it was a way of dedicating each and every page of school work to God’s honour. It was only much later that I discovered that the acronym AMDG was in fact a Latin inscription, ad majorem Dei gloriam – ‘to the greater glory of God’. This was established by St Ignatius of Loyola as the motto of the Society of Jesus (AKA, the Jesuits). St Ignatius had plenty of ecclesiastical accomplishments to boast of in the course of his life and yet he wisely understood that everything we do as Christians is ultimately God’s work and should be done for His greater glory.

With these sentiments in mind, this weekend we have the opportunity to see the renovation of the sanctuary at St Patrick’s Church. It has surpassed my highest expectations, creating a space that is both functional and beautiful, harmonising with the historic character of the church. There are many people to thank in making it all come together, yet it is significant that the key figures involved are regular parishioners. Indiana Hangan oversaw the whole project, and with his crew (Liam, Jake, Henry and Ezekiel) was able to remove the extended sections of the sanctuary from the 1990’s exposing the original floorboards which were fortunately in very good condition. Hangan Construction replaced a shorter section of the sanctuary with matching Tasmanian Oak to bring the sanctuary in line with the front of the pillars. The floors were then stained and polished to bring out a rich, warm colour that matches the existing timber furnishings. Long-time parishioner and master-craftsman, Frank Feltham, was able to replicate the original altar rails, in a nod to the heritage character of the church. This has the advantage of enabling us to remove the two kneelers at the front creating a clear space for people coming for Communion. With the help of local electrician, Andrew Zmegac, we also took the opportunity to clean up some of the electrical wiring in the sanctuary.

It must be publicly acknowledged that both Frank Feltham and Indi Hangan volunteered their time and prodigious talents for this renovation; As if that wasn’t enough, the Hangan family paid for the entirety of the new section of flooring, meaning that this project was done at a fraction of what it would otherwise have cost the parish. It should also be stated for the record that the Hangan family had previously built and paid for the new picket fence in its entirety. May God abundantly reward their generosity!

A note about the historical high altar. This was salvaged from St Columbkille’s church in Glengarry, which was sadly deconsecrated and sold in 2021. The altar was saved through the entirely providential intervention of Mathew Moxey and placed in St Aloysius church, Yarra Glen, following the repolishing of the floorboards there. Being such a compact sanctuary at St Aloysius, the high altar did somewhat overwhelm the space. Consequently the two tabernacles were swapped – St Aloysius now has a beautiful tabernacle better proportioned for the scale of the sanctuary and vice versaat St Patrick’s – in fact it lines up perfectly with the bottom of the window sill.  

Nothing is too good for God – He deserves our very best. My hope is that the beauty of the workmanship and the sense of dignity conveyed by the refurbished sanctuary can lead us to an ever-more fitting worship of the Holy Trinity, in the offering of the Holy Mass and the sacraments. Ad majorem Dei gloriam – To the greater glory of God!