St. Mary Cathedral - Our Lady of Mount Carmel

http://stmarycathedral.org/ The first bishop of Ga***rd, Edmund Szoka, had the present cathedral built. The cornerstone was laid on July 25, 1975. The new cathedral was dedicated to St. Mary, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on June 25, 1976. The bell tower and bells were consecrated in July 1977. Mary’s Cathedral is an octagon-shaped structure built in the Modern architectural style. A statue of th

e Blessed Virgin Mary outside the south entrance was created by Jim Hopfensperger of Midland, Michigan. It is cast in bronze and was added to the grounds in 1991. A gathering space provides the entryway into the building. The baptismal font is an octagon shaped pool near the entrance. The altar is created from Vermont granite. Inside the altar are the relics of the evangelists St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke, a piece of St. John's house, and pieces of bone from other saints. The pipe organ was built by the Gabriel Kney Company of London, Ontario, Canada. The 2,000 plus pipes were manufactured in Gottingen, Germany. The Blessed Sacrament Chapel contains a sculpture of The Burning Bush by Vera Bartnik of Traverse City, Michigan. The tabernacle is in the shape of a monstrance and has a luna suspended in a sunburst where the Eucharist is reserved. There are four shrine areas in the cathedral dedicated to the Sacred Heart, St. Joseph, Our Lady of Czestochowa and Bishop Frederic Baraga. The stained glass windows portray the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Stations of the Cross are bronze bas reliefs. Four crosses with candles mark the four primary directions where the cathedral walls were consecrated with Sacred Chrism.