Contact: Tami Maskell at 616-481-5328 or Melissa Rauch at 616-447-0621.
The Church Environment Team enhances our sacred spaces to foster a welcoming, prayerful atmosphere that reflects each liturgical season and enriches the community’s worship and prayer experience. By thoughtfully preparing the worship space with meaningful décor, we invite all to lift their hearts and minds to God. Our work includes coordinating floral arrangements, banners, candles, and other elements that support and elevate the beauty of our liturgy and worship space.
Key Responsibilities
Planning and Design: Members plan for major feasts and liturgical seasons. Advent, Christmas, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, St. Jude feast (October 28), All Saints/All Souls, Month of the Deceased.
Decorating: Members use various elements such as flower arrangements, plants, banners, hangings, stained glass window panes, candles (altar and Mary), altar linens throughout ordinary time and feast seasons.
Floral Arrangements: Creating floral displays is a key activity, as flowers are seen as symbolic of joy and God’s creation. Arrangements are placed to complete the design created for the season or feast.
Confession Room and St. Jude Chapel: Members use various elements such as flowers and plants to enhance the confession room. Coordination with the liturgical season is important. The St. Jude Chapel is enhanced by a larger seasonal arrangement (about 4 changes a year) to support the prayer space. Attention to any live flowers left in his honor may need attention throughout the year.
Linens and Banners: Members are responsible to coordinate the linen colors with the liturgical calendar. Linens are changed on the Tabernacle, Ambo and cross at the rear of the pews, near the gift table. Banners and other fabrics are used at various times in the year. Many require ironing which can be done at the church or at home in coordination with the scheduled decorating.
Candles: Members are responsible for changing the votive candle holders at Mary. This coordinates with the Tabernacle and Ambo linens for the various feasts and seasons according to the liturgical calendar. For major feasts (Easter through Pentecost; Christmas through Baptism of the Lord) the additional 4 tall candle sticks are added to flank the altar, with gold tassels.
Set up/take down: Responsibilities include the physical setup and removal of decorative items. This includes floral arrangements, vases, banners, crosses, rocks, stained glass window panes, risers, linens, cloths, tables. Items need to be returned to the appropriate storage spaces after use.
Storage: Members keep all storage areas organized, tidy and clean. Areas include: Fall/Month of Dead/Holy Week (behind pews, on left side); Winter greens/outdoor swags (behind pews, on right side); sacristy room closets: candles, vases, baskets, risers, floral room, fabric/linens, tabernacle/banner drawers.
Maintenance: This includes minor repairs to vases, risers, silk flowers, artificial plants, baskets, linens. General tidiness and cleaning of storage areas (in the back of church and in the sacristy).
Live plant care: During Christmas and Easter seasons, the live plants gracing the worship spaces require additional attention and care. Visits twice a week (or as needed) are scheduled to ensure the plants are beautiful for any daily mass or event (watering, deadheading, sweeping droppings, removal of spent plants). Additionally, after a funeral, fresh flower care may be needed to ensure the worship space remains clean and beautiful.