With great joy we give thanks to God for our second full year in business; what tremendous blessings it has brought us. We’d like to take the opportunity again to share a few of the highlights and reflect on how God continues to call us to serve his Church in 2020.
Seminarians from the Diocese of Austin lead the closing procession from the Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference.
In January our team attended the Southwest Liturgical Conference in Houston. It was a joy to see many friends and colleagues, including keynote speaker Dr. Denis McNamara (former Associate Director of the Liturgical Institute, Liturgy Guys Podcast host, and new Executive Director of the Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine University). In addition, we got to spend time with Albl Oberammergau and were introduced to Canning Liturgical Arts, both of whom have been collaborating with us on several projects. Shortly thereafter, Michael attended the Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference for the Diocese of Austin in Waco to assist coordinating liturgy and environment, a role with which has been involved since 2013. Each year the conference sees new and exciting improvements to the beauty of its liturgies to make them more engaging to the almost 3,000 high school students and adult youth ministers and volunteers in attendance.
During the late winter and early spring, Studio io was quietly involved with planning a new Catholic high school in West Texas. Workshops were held on the Baylor learning labs research campus in Waco in April, and in May, Holy Cross Catholic High School was officially announced for a fall 2019 launch. We have been assisting Huckabee, Inc. with many planning considerations for integrating prayer and worship into daily life on campus, including school Masses in multipurpose space and a small reservation chapel in phase one, and planning a permanent 450-seat chapel for a future phase for weekly school Masses and daily adoration. We were also able to assist St. Joseph in Marlin, TX with a modest interior repainting scheme that provides quite an improvement.
Michael with parents Joe and Earline at University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein IL
In April, Michael had the pleasure of joining his friends Chris Duffell and Rafael Morales on the Beauty Ever New podcast to discuss Sacred Architecture, and in May attended his Master of Arts in Liturgy commencement with the Liturgical Institute at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein IL, marking the completion of a 5-year journey that began in 2014. His thesis, Restored in Christ, proposes a comprehensive framework for mystagogical catechesis building upon Benedict XVI’s Sacramentum Caritatis.
The new Marian grotto at St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station, TX
Appropriately in the month of Mary St. Mary’s Catholic Center celebrated completion of a new courtyard with the installation of a new 6-foot marble statue of Our Lady of Grace and custom carved limestone base as its focal point just outside the Hannigan adoration chapel. The courtyard is based on the previous layout, with some improvements for proper drainage and an expanded area for prayer and reflection around the grotto.
Bishop Joe Vásquez dedicates the new St. Paul Chapel in Smithville, TX on June 5, 2019.
Katie Torvinen (right) and her family at the Reno Rodeo in Nevada.
Michael and Lauren Tamara were married at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ
Michael and Hannah with Brother Basil at St. Meinrad
The summer was a busy one for the team. At the end of May, Michael traveled to North Carolina to present a two-phase renovation project to Holy Family in Hillsborough, the second stage of which involves an interior church renovation that should move forward this coming summer. June 5 marked the dedication of the St. Paul Chapel in Smithville, TX, and June and July offered opportunities for interviews with Red-C Catholic Radio in College Station, TX. Michael also enrolled in a dual-degree Master of Arts in Sacred Arts and Master of Theological Studies from Pontifex University.
Team members Katie Torvinen and Mike Tamara both moved over the summer. Katie left her home in eastern Florida in May to spend some time with family and the rodeo in Nevada in June, settling into her new home in Denver, CO in July. Mike and Lauren Tamara married in June and moved to Caldwell, New Jersey. The two celebrated a beautiful liturgy in the extraordinary form at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ with family and friends. Later in July, Michael and Mike met on campus at Mundelein for the Liturgical Institute’s Transfigured young adult liturgy conference, and the team us currently enrolled in several of the school’s new online liturgy courses. Additionally, Studio io began working with the John Paul II Newman Center at UIC on initial concepts for chapel renovations.
In August, Michael and girlfriend Hannah traveled to St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana, where good friend and fellow Liturgical Institute alum Christian became Brother Basil, making a profession of simple vows. Also in August, construction began in Fort Wort, TX at WholeLife Authentic Care Clinic, and currently the chapel is framed and awaiting final approval to begin its finish-out this spring. Our friends at New Jerusalem Studios have been commissioned for a liturgical mural on the main wall. Katie attended a symposium in on the theology of sacred architecture lead by Dr. Denis McNamara at St. Mark's in Denver and is working to establish great relationships with clergy and lay professionals devoted to beauty.
In September, Michael presented on Liturgy and Sacred Architecture to young adults at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Dallas, and to a general parish audience at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, where Studio io is assisting with planning beautification concepts. Later that month, Michael and Mike Tamara traveled to Providence, Rhode Island for the Society for Catholic Liturgy’s annual conference, held at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul and at Providence College. At the end of September, Studio io began working with BCDM Architects in Omaha on the new church for St. Martin of Tours in Forney, TX, a project which began in a conceptual state in the fall of 2018 and is now moving forward after a successful capital campaign.
Michael and friend Stephen with regular clinic attendees
Bishop David Konderla joins Bishop Joe Vásquez to deliver remarks at the dedication of a new building for his former parish, St. Mary’s Catholic Center
In October, Michael had the wonderful opportunity to attend a Catholic Medical Mission to Ayaviri, Peru. The team included volunteers from Colorado, Texas, other states in the US, Colombia, and Lima, Peru, working closely with Bishop Kay Martin Schmalhausen, diocesan priests and religious brothers and sisters, and Caritas. The mission estimates serving some 1,200 people who otherwise have no means of preventive or urgent medical care.
Michael joins Adam Brill and Dom Alcuin Reid for the Engage the Mass Conference at St. Thomas Aquinas
On October 22, the Bishop Joe Vázquez was joined by Bishop David Konderla of Tulsa to dedicate the new John Paul II Student Center Addition at St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station (completed with Jackson Galloway FGM), where Bishop Konderla was formerly pastor. The event was preceded by a Mass of Thanksgiving in a packed church, and included appearances by Reveille and members of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie band. Longtime benefactor and friend of St. Mary’s Ralph Schmidt gave a beautiful keynote reflection on the role of St. Mary’s in his own faith life.
The fall months involved several presentations. Wrapping up a busy month of October, Michael led a new youth minister training workshop for the Diocese of Austin, focusing on prayer and worship and looking at the role that beauty and tradition play in the work of evangelization and transformation of the culture. He also was featured speaking on these topics in regard to the firm’s work at St. Martin of Tours on Guadalupe Catholic Radio in the Dallas area in early November. Later in the month, he joined fellow Liturgical Institute alum Adam Brill, St. Mary’s Catholic Center parochial vicar Fr. Greg Gerhart, and renowned liturgical scholar Dom Alcuin Reid for the Engage the Mass liturgy conference at St. Thomas Aquinas in College Station. Dom Reid is currently raising funds for the purchase and improvement of a medieval monastery in France for his community, Monastère Saint-Benoît. Michael’s talk, Beauty and the Sacramental Encounter, painted a picture for the importance of the Church’s role engaging the senses in worship.
In November, the team met in Austin and traveled together to Edinburg, TX to present to St. Joseph Catholic Church on liturgy and sacred architecture and to give a sneak peak into the in-progress design concepts for a new church. The trip allowed for Michael, Katie, and Mike to be joined by Elsa Kosegarten Stubblefield, who is assisting with St. Joseph, and the team made visits to two of Texas’ three basilicas: the Basilica of the Little Flower in San Antonio, and the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle.
Church of the Visitation fire in Westlphalia, TX July 29
Late in the fall, we were given a wonderful opportunity to take on a difficult project. We were ecstatic to be invited by the Diocese of Austin to join K4 Construction for the design and construction of a new Church of the Visitation in Westphalia, TX, in response to the tragic July 29 fire that completely consumed the 125-year old wooden structure only three months after the shocking Notre Dame fire in France and was reported in news across the country. While the parish holds Masses in the parish hall, the project is making good progress and spirits are high. The committee received a presentation on sacred liturgy and architecture, including the role of tradition and beauty, shortly before Christmas.
Also in November, our friends at Albl Oberammergau completed gorgeous new gilded wood carvings for the altar (Agnus Dei) and ambo (Chi Rho) at Holy Family Catholic Church in Copperas Cove, TX (right). Two new stained glass windows featuring the Holy Family and St. Michael the Archangel as patron of the armed forces (Fort Hood is nearby) will be provided by Foster Stained Glass, who will also be commissioned to replace the historic windows lost in the Westphalia fire.
December 14 saw the third and final dedication of the year, at the newly expanded and restored St. Mary of the Assumption in String Prairie, a nearly 120-year old wooden structure and a project began by Jackson Galloway FGM Architects in 2014. The seating expanded dramatically along with more restrooms and rebuilt sacristies. The choir loft was also rebuilt to better accommodate additional seating. A simple original paint scheme was uncovered and restored along with carved gothic high altar and side altars, and the 80-foot bell tower & steeple were restored after almost a century of being capped much lower after it was lost in a storm. Perhaps the most striking interior aspect of the project is the flooring; the carpet was removed to expose the longleaf pine floors, which were matched with salvaged wood from a historic barn and refinished.
Christmastime saw the announcement of moving forward on two exciting 1950s gothic church interior renovations: St. Mary of the Assumption in Taylor, TX and Holy Rosary in Rosenberg. Both projects are being planned with the assistance of our friends at Canning Liturgical Arts.
We have many exciting things emerging already for 2020 and are eager to see what will continue to take shape. Please pray for us that we may continue to be formed and transformed, remaining docile to the will of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ. Thank you also for your prayers for all of our clients who have undertaken the difficult work of renewal by investing in beauty and formation, that it may enrich all sacramental life and ministerial work, and inspire each person who is affected by the work we do to be a faithful disciple and servant of Jesus Christ.