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St. Agnes Cathedral Unveils New Look In Time For Holy Week

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- There is a new look for holy week and Easter Sunday at St. Agnes Cathedral on Long Island.

CBS2's Jennifer McLogan toured the first phase of a highly anticipated renovation that was just unveiled in Rockville Centre.

The symbolic center of the nation's sixth largest Catholic diocese, the historic St. Agnes Cathedral, established in 1894, is revealing a facelift.

The wraps are coming off in time for Holy week, and parishioners are getting a sneak peek. The renovation is still a work in progress and is the first in more than three decades. More than half a million Catholics helped pay for the work.

A temporary wall was lifted to reveal a new tabernacle area. The gold box that holds the Eucharist is now front and center in the sanctuary over a new marble altar.

A new serene, off-white palette replaced the rubix cube domino effect below the high, vaulted ceiling.

"The purpose behind a beautiful church building is to help us lift up our hearts, souls, and minds to God," Msgr. William Koenig, Rector, St. Agnes Cathedral.

Affecting the 4,000 who come to Sunday mass and the millions who watch on cable TV will be a new bishop's chair used by late Bishop Walter Kellenberg, and a brand new veneration chapel containing a reproduction of Michelangelo's Pieta which will open for prayer when the church closes for safety reasons.

"Unfortunately we have to lock them at a certain time. Now we will be able to keep them open, especially this door," Msgr. Koenig said.

He called Easter a time of rebirth.

"In a special way I think St. Agnes and the diocese will experience that rebirth of our cathedral also," Msgr. Koenig said, "It is gorgeous. I can't wait to see it completely finished."

Once the entire ceiling is completed pews will be refurbished, new kneelers, and exterior repairs will be done by Easter 2016.

Until Monday, weekday services had been suspended for the $4.5-million renovation.

 

 

 

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