Renovations on the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington reached new heights with the installation of a cross on top of the cathedral.
“Today, friends, we literally lift high the cross,” Bishop Michael F. Burbidge said, referencing the hymn of the same name. He encouraged all to “ pray for the grace that this renovated cathedral will always have us looking up to the Lord, who by his own cross and Resurrection, has proved victorious in giving us the gift of life, both now and forever.”
The cross was installed during a traditional capping ceremony, also called a “topping-out” ceremony. According to Kathy Powers, diocesan senior facilities manager, a capping ceremony is when the last piece of steel is placed onto a building.
“For our capping ceremony, the way we are commemorating it, it will happen after the last piece of steel is installed, but visually, it will be when the cross is put on the north facade,” Powers said.
During the ceremony, Bishop Burbidge blessed the cross on the ground with holy water. An awestruck crowd of nearly 100 watched as a crane lifted the cross onto the roof of the north facade, facing Glebe Road. A group of workers installed the cross just above the rose window. Bishop Burbidge then blessed the construction workers and thanked them for their service.
“Dear workers, thank you so much for your hard work, dedication and service as we renovate our cathedral. You are helping to give the Lord a beautiful new home,” he said.
The cross was designed by O’Brien and Keane, an Arlington-based firm that has helped design several churches in the diocese. In the months ahead, a statue of St. Thomas More will be installed in front of the north facade.
Before the creation of the Arlington diocese, the Cathedral of St. Thomas More was a part of the Richmond diocese, known as St. Thomas More Parish. The church was later chosen as the Arlington diocese’s seat of the bishop, or cathedral. Andy Schulman, diocesan director of the Office of Planning, Construction and Facilities, said that the new renovations will help the cathedral live up to its title.
“I’m very excited about the transformation from modern architecture back to traditional, Tudor gothic architecture,” Schulman said.
He added that the renovations indicate a stylistic shift among new church buildings. “If you’ll notice, we’ve been doing this all over the diocese. We’ve built six churches over the last five years. All of them are classical in tradition, form and language,” he said.
Danny Tineo, a project manager of the Forrester Construction Company has worked on the renovations since February 2023. “I grew up Catholic, and this is my second project with the diocese. We did Corpus Christi Church and that was a very successful, beautiful project, so it means a lot that the diocese selected us to do the cathedral,” he said.
Pavlo Villhauer, a parishioner of St. Rita Church in Alexandria and a Forrester project manager, oversaw the renovations project. He said that the ceremony was rewarding after his crew encountered several unexpected challenges during the structural portion of the renovations.
“No one really knew what was going to be behind the walls once we started. We had 1960s drawings to go by, and once we opened up the walls, everything was different than what was shown,” Villhauer said.
Villhauer said that being a part of beautifying the cathedral has been personally rewarding. “When I heard that Bishop Burbidge wanted to re-do the cathedral, I was ecstatic. And I love the trend toward classic architecture,” he said.
Villhauer said his four children are also enthusiastic about the renovations. “I know from my kids that they think this is really cool. They talk to their friends at school about it,” he said.
Tineo said that despite the challenges, the renovations will be worth it. “It’s been a lot of coordination, definitely a lot of intricate details, but it’s been a very detailed project that’s been coming together beautifully.”
