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Holy Infant Catholic Church receives a makeover
Renovations were necessary to keep up with growing congregation
By Ted Hayes
Thursday, July 26, 2007
ELKTON – Holy Infant Catholic Church in Elkton is nearing completion of an eight-month renovation project.
Work has involved relocating the sanctuary pews and altar, removing dying trees and shrubs from the front of the church to make it more visible from the street, and installing new, stained-glass windows made by the church council President James Shirron and his wife, Shirley.
Six months ago, the church was sent a new
administrator, Fr. Alejandro P. Credo, a native of the
“He is well liked here,” said church member Frank Meleski.
While all these changes have been occurring, church membership has been rising—about 25 percent in the past year, according to Meleski.
“We have as many as 130 people in the congregation for services now,” he said, adding that about half of them come from Massanutten Resort.
Changes to the interior were made to resolve some problems. The major problem was the lack of seating space for the rising number of church attenders.
“There was no place for people to sit on Christmas and Easter, and increasingly, on any regular service,” explained Shirron. “So we started by relocating the altar to the front of the church, and out of the center. We also decided to rearrange the pews so that, instead of facing each other across a center aisle, they all faced forward to the altar.”
The purpose in this change was two-fold.
“We wanted the church to look more traditional, the way it did before the changes of the 1960s,” Meleski said. “And we needed the additional seating space, probably the main reason.”
Parishioners also took out a solid wall that separated the altar area from the activities room, and replaced it with a sliding wall—allowing placement of folding chairs during the overflow attendance.
Shirron and wife Shirley have also taken on the job of creating and installing stained-glass windows in the nave to replace those that were sold some years ago.
They have completed two windows.
Their first effort, about 18 inches by 24 inches, features squares of horizontal and vertical-colored glass.
Their second window is the same size but is based on a more complex pattern, with curves, flower-shapes, and the name of the church, “Holy Infant,” painted in gothic script in the centerpiece.
Contributors to the remodeling were Renovation Supervisor Gene Baker, Francis Dovel, Paul and Ellen Eagle, and other church members.
Additional information may be obtained by calling the church at 298-1341 or the Shirrons at 298-2331.
