Worship Area/Hall
While this space is our current worship area for Mass, it also serves as a large Reception/Banquet Hall once the chairs/benches for Mass celebration are removed. Plans are in place to complete the church sanctuary (Phase Two) at some point in the future. Attached to the hall is a spacious commercial kitchen. Consequently, large Fundraising Dinners have been celebrated here—for example, the Filipino Fiesta in 2018. The Kitchen facility has also been rented out for weekday use by small community businesses in Cochrane.
Liturgical Events: Weekend Masses, Weddings, Baptisms, Funerals, Stations of the Cross
The worship space had to be re-designed during Covid-19 to allow for "social-distancing."
Non-Liturgical Events: Fundraising Dinners, Music & Dancing, Choir Practices, Meetings, Guest Speakers, Parish Missions, Sacramental Education, etc.
Special Features
The Celtic Cross and Crucifix is a central focus in our worship space in the Parish Hall—at present temporary until the building of Phase Two, which will include our Worship Space Proper.
The specially designed and hand-painted Celtic Cross (created prior to our "opening" in 2007) was a labour of love accomplished by two very talented artists who are parishioners serving on the Arts and Environment Ministry at St. Mary's. These ladies—Bonnie Farris and Anne Manning—painted the Celtic Cross onto the wall of the Parish Hall, then mounted a bronze crucifix that we have had for some time in the parish.
The result was a beautiful work of art situated in the centre of the six stained glass windows forming a sacred backdrop to the altar where we celebrate the Sacrifice of the Eucharist every weekend, on holy-days throughout the year, and at weddings, funerals, and the initiatory sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation for our parishioners.
The six stained glass windows at the front of the Parish Hall originally adorned the chapel at Calgary's former Holy Cross Hospital. When the hospital was closed, they were no longer needed. St. Mary's, Cochrane acquired them and had the north end of our new Parish Hall designed especially for them in celebration of the beauty of holiness.
The wrought iron door handles and other iron-work art
The iron door handles and other iron works at St. Mary's are also unique to our new church. Hans Stocker of our parish, a retired blacksmith, very graciously offered his expertise to fashion and install the beautiful wrought iron items located throughout the building. See (to the right) a collage showing the blacksmithing process in pictures.
Stations of the Cross: Calgary-based contemporary artist Bev Tosh was commissioned by our parish to paint our sixteen stations. She is a distinguished member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
Why these sixteen stations? The choice of stations was inspired by St. John Paul II's Good Friday 1991 Papal call for developing themes that are clearly supported by Scripture. Thus, some stations based solely on tradition, such as Veronica comforting Jesus, are not included, while others, such as the Last Supper and the resurrected Jesus breaking bread with the men from Emmaus, are included.
