Over 100 years ago, Annunciation Parish began the process of relocating from the West Bottoms, breaking ground for a new church in what is now midtown Kansas City. The new church would be dedicated in 1924. Its centerpiece was a magnificent altar and baldacchino, properly expressing due reverence for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Tabernacle.



This is how it was described in This Far By Faith, Vol II: 

"The baldacchino is 34 feet in height to the top of its high-flung Cross; the width overall is 21 feet. There are four massive columns of Paonazza Scagliola mounted upon bases of Italian marble made resplendent with panels in Breccia Rossa. These handsome Scagliola monoliths support a richly ornamental cornice upon which rests the canopy artistically executed in conformity with the architectural style of the church. A beautiful ceiling of gold and colored mosaic, pure oriental in type, is seen from below."

This spectacular expression of faith sadly fell into great disrepair following the closing of the church in the 1990s. Thanks to some heroic efforts though, the altar was saved and restored and now serves the faithful in the Divine Mercy Adoration Chapel next to St. Pius X High School. And the 20,000-pound baldacchino was rescued for our new church and has been undergoing painstaking restoration for months while we have been preparing to break ground ourselves in the spirit of our ancestors in faith from a century ago.

And now, as we work on our redesigned campus plan, we have our first glimpses of the restoration work to date. For us too, this and a magnificent altar will be the centerpiece of our new church. Returned to its original glory, honoring those who sacrificed to create and offer it a century ago, and dedicated to the everlasting glory of God.