Diocese wins support for renovation of cathedral - Nation - Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Fort Wayne, Indiana - Brief Article

A team approach won broad support for a $4 million renovation of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne, Ind., speakers at a conference said.

Leaders of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend told participants at a church architecture symposium at the University of Notre Dame that sensitive planning won over initial opposition to the changes at the cathedral.

Some 2,000 people signed petitions against the project at first, but a strategy of listening sessions and program planning led to a finished project with near-universal approval.

"It was the work of a wonderful team," Bishop John M. D'Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend told a workshop Oct. 22 at the symposium on "Cathedrals for a New Century."

The Oct. 21-23 symposium, sponsored by the Institute for Church Life and the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, was organized by the University of Notre Dame's theology department and the School of Architecture.

In addition to being the parish for some 1,000 households, the cathedral is a center for activities for 160,000 Catholics in the diocese and for ecumenical activity, including meetings with Jews, Methodists and Lutherans.

Planners focused on using materials from the historic cathedral, improving lighting and sound while hiding technological additions, providing handicap access, increasing energy efficiency and enhancing artistic presentations.

The restoration incorporated items from the old arrangement, especially the former communion rail and altar, into furnishings of the redesigned space.

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