I did not think it would happen so fast. When I was a young seminarian and assistant priest, I heard stories of seasoned pastors who would wait until snow was practically on the ground before turning on the heat in the church. I though to myself, “I will never be like those pastors.” Little did I know what it takes to run a parish! As you can probably tell the heat on the church is not on yet (at least at the time I am writing this bulletin column). It should come as no surprise why: the cost of heating the church.
Our church uses oil for heat. I began tracking the price of oil when I arrived at the parish (and a little before). Here are some figures of the price per gallon of oil: October 2020 $1.33; March 2021 $2.05; November 2021 $2.49; March 2022 $3.79; October 2022 $5.06. As you can see, in a very short span of time we are now paying over double for oil. Our tanks can hold (roughly) 600 gallons. In the past we have needed to fill up once a month during the heating season. With these figures it means that we need to be very conservative in our heating usage this season. Of course, the church is not the only place that needs heat. Homes and businesses throughout our parish face higher energy costs this year. So, while I ask that you consider the costs of heating the church this year when you think about your donation, I also understand that you need to heat your homes as well. With God’s help we will get through this year, but as a result we will need to come prepared in the months ahead (which may mean wearing extra layers to church). Please know that help is out there for families in need of heat this winter. The diocesan program “Keep the Heat On” has helped many in the past and will be there to help again. Meanwhile, I have been looking into heating (and electrical) programs in the state to help mitigate these rising costs.
While we try to keep the church warm this year, we can take this opportunity to remember that heated churches are relatively new in history. Many of the churches in Europe do not have heating systems. As a result, they can get very cold in the winter months. Some mitigate the cold by using patio heaters. For most of the Church’s history, however, the way people kept warm was by putting on more layers. This helps explain the reason for the different styles of priest chasubles. The chasuble is the outermost vestment that a priest wears at Mass. It’s color matches the liturgical season, the saint, or the solemnity of the day. Chasubles also come in different styles. Often when we think of chasuble styles, we divide them into two: our modern day chasubles and the fiddleback chasubles of the 1950s. There are, however, so many more. And the style has a lot to do with keeping the priest warm (or cool).
The style of our chasubles at St. Teresa are known as semi-Gothic or Gothic. They are shaped in such a way to provide a mix between warmth and arm movement. Meanwhile canonical style chasubles are shaped so that they go all the way to the floor. While they provide a lot of warmth, it is difficult to move one’s hands. In warmer climates we find the Roman or Fiddleback chasuble. These became ubiquitous in the early 20th century. While we might think of them as traditional, practically speaking they keep the priest cool and allow him to move his arms and hands more easily. Of course, with modern buildings the practical need to stay warm or cool has been mitigated by HVAC systems. As a result, certain vestment styles (like canonical or gothic) share the same shape, but they may use lighter fabrics to keep the priest cool while maintaining the style.