Parish Hall Refresh in Madison Conjures up a Catholic Cloister

Story by Shelley Wolf

MADISON – When Father Philip Schulze, pastor of St. Margaret Parish in Madison, was approached by a number of parishioners in 2020 asking for a refresh of the parish hall, he understood their concerns.

St. Margaret Church, a church within the Archdiocese of Hartford, was built of brick in 1937 in the English Gothic style. The current parishioners had been using its parish hall in the church basement for meetings and lectures, but were reluctant to use it to host socials after baptisms or funerals.

Painted beige with dark wood trim, the hall was a bit dated. And it had overhead fluorescent light fixtures from the 1970s, reminiscent of an office.

But Father Schulze had an idea. The wood columns along the perimeter of the room conjured up images in his mind of a medieval abbey, with a colonnaded cloister surrounding an open courtyard.

“I remember coming in here and seeing the column spacing, and I thought ‘This is what it could be.’ What I wanted to do was create the feeling of an abbey,” he says, “with a blue ceiling like open sky and purple walls that close in – a contemporary translation of a medieval abbey.”

Of course, it helps that Father Schulze has an eye for space planning and for beauty, and he can redecorate on a budget. Before he was ordained a priest in 2016, he says, his background was in architecture and real estate development for UBS Private Bank in Manhattan. So he is used to walking into spaces and sizing them up. “I’ve always had this kind of experience,” he says.

“What was clearly needed was a redefinition of the space into a multifunctional room that could accommodate receptions, retreats, lectures, meetings, dinners, special events and varied parishioner functions,” Father Schulze explains.

The Colorful Results

Begun in spring 2021, the revamp of the parish hall at St. Margaret Church was fully completed by February 2022.

Today, as part of that contemporary take on a cloister, the parish hall center ceiling is painted a light blue to appear higher. Contemporary pendant lighting is hung at different heights to give the feeling of clouds. Canister lights are also placed overhead, and all lighting is dimmable to suit a variety of functions: brighter for lectures and more subdued for socials.

The walls of the colonnade along the perimeter are now a dusty purple, and the ceiling above is also painted purple to facilitate the illusion of being lower. The woodwork along the birch columns, ceiling beams and wainscoting is refinished in a lighter wood stain.

The existing lightweight folding tables, circular and rectangular, can be set up in numerous ways, though Father Schulze sets them up in a default layout and asks parish groups to return them to the default when done. “It’s really versatile, you can see all the different configurations,” Father Schulze says, scrolling through his cell phone to show photos of numerous parish events, with beautifully decorated tables, that have already been held in the refurbished hall.

“So many parishes can do this,” he says. “It didn’t cost that much. It’s mostly paint. Much of it was deferred maintenance, like refinishing the woodwork.” The parish hall flooring, however, needed to be totally replaced after it was heavily damaged by a hurricane in the fall of 2021. Fortunately, that was covered by insurance, the priest says.

Furnishing the Cloister Area

To further decorate the hall on a budget, Father Schulze scoured the parish property for free items that would create the feeling of “a sacred parsonage.”

“I found everything – cabinets, pews, kneelers, all hidden in basements and attics,” he says. He also found candles, a Bible stand, pedestals and statues stored away, as well as some old street lamps purchased by the Ladies Fellowship group for an event years ago. Parishioners added some statues, too. All these antique-looking religious furnishings and items are now placed in the cloister area, along the perimeter of the room, where they remain in position.

Adorning the walls of the cloister area is religious art created on a budget by Bob Vissers, a parishioner and amateur photographer. The priest and Vissers worked together, taking color photographs of stained glass windows in the church, and black and white photos of statues throughout the property, then had them printed on canvass through an online company.

With church discounts, Father Schulze says, “We really got an incredible deal.” He also loves how the images look hung on the purple walls. “The color camouflages a lot and lets the artwork pop.”

Extending to the Outdoors

To make the most of an empty patio behind the parish hall, St. Margaret purchased some teak outdoor tables and chairs and added outdoor lighting for parish functions. The furniture can be moved indoors and positioned in the cloister perimeter for additional use in the winter. “They fit perfectly in that part of the room,” Father Schulze says.

The priest has been hard at work in the parish gardens, too. “I do a lot of the gardening myself at 5 in the morning,” he says. “That’s part of the liturgy to me, to make a beautiful environ that makes people want to stay.”

Outdoors, the grounds around the church are planted with purple, blue and pink hydrangea that Father Schulze purchases each year to decorate the church altar for Easter, then replants outdoors in the spring to save on landscaping costs. “If you plant them right, they all come up again,” he says.

Additionally, a giant urn-shaped pot planted with pink and blue hanging geraniums greets parishioners at the entrance to the church, while urns with white gardenias, pink bougainvillea and red begonias are positioned at various junctions around the church’s foundations and walkways.

The outdoor potted plants can be moved indoors and placed in the church hall, where they can also be enjoyed in winter. “In the winter, it’s like a little café when you’re here,” he adds.

Parishioners seem to approve. “The parishioners’ reaction has been really good, to the landscaping especially,” the priest says. “They love the outdoor garden and to be able to use it for events. We’re fortunate that it’s a sunken garden that divorces you from the traffic on the road. And the hall can now be used. Before it was more compromised.”

Sprucing Up the Church

Prior to the parish hall update, the church was also spruced up. The sanctuary is now painted a light blue to create greater depth and dimension, and the transept a light cream.

A new statue of the parish’s patron saint was added: St. Margaret of Alacoque, a 15th century saint from France who was devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Purchased by Deacon Adam Michaele, the statue of the saint kneeling before the Sacred Heart of Jesus is positioned at the edge of the sanctuary, where it is backlit by natural light from the skylight overhead.

With all the projects completed, individuals and parish groups are now signing up for the parish hall for a variety of functions, such as the Women’s Fellowship luncheons and events. “It’s going to be great for the Golden Eye,” Father Schulze says, referring to the parish’s auction on Oct. 1 to raise funds to send its youth group on an annual mission trip to Jamaica.

St. Margaret Church is located at 24 Academy Street in Madison. For Mass times, children’s faith formation, and social activities with the St. Margaret Parish community, visit stmargaretchurch.com.