St. Mary Magdalene Church

Lawrence Hoy Studios worked with this predominantly African-American parish to design, fabricate and install new sanctuary furnishings that would uniquely reflect the rich heritage of their community. In traditional African communities, the village gathers around a communal bowl to share a meal; the symbolism of the communal bowl was the inspiration for the design of the altar, which is a large bowl carved from American Maple wood resting on carved supports of African Mahogany wood. The furnishings were custom designed for this new church which was built to replace the previous church destroyed by fire. The tabernacle is placed in a carved wood “eucharistic tower” resembling the tree of life, symbolic of the re-birth of their church.