Thursday, March 08, 2007

"Hit The Lights!"

Did you notice anything different about the lighting in the Cathedral last weekend? No? I didn't either.

That's a good thing. It means that our new lighting controllers and our new wiring for the lights are working fine. Our lighting is now safer and more convenient.

Safety is always good. The new wiring will help to ensure the safety for all of us who pray here. It also reduces the risk of fire to our beautiful cathedral.

The new lighting controllers are more convenient. We will first see the real benefit on Palm Sunday during the reading of the Passion. Many churches around the world dim their lights and the parishioners kneel as we recall the moment when Christ died on the cross. At Holy Family, three servers used to rush to an electrical panel (see photo on the right) to turn off and on twenty-eight individual switches. The new controllers allow a priest to dim the lights by touching a single button.


Here's a photo of the new controllers. Note: this machinery is not the "on/off" button.

This week, workers are rewiring the flourescent lights below the choir loft. (see photo below)