The old altar is lovely, yes, but it doesn't much fit the architecture of the church, now does it?
Oh, indeed. Retaining the altar in its entirety would have been lovely had it gone somewhere else.That said, Fordham seems to have done a good job accommodating it.
Very nice. I highly prefer the baldachin, though. A cathedral of this scope ought to have a freestanding altar under a fixed canopy.
Don't all altars have to have some kind of baldachin or canopy?
The freestanding part applies only to cathedrals, right? Not ordinary parishes?
From the words of the Pontifical we infer that the high altar must stand free on all sides (Pontifex circuit septies tabulam altaris), but the back part of smaller altars may be built against the wall.
The high altar in a church that is to be consecrated should be a fixed altar (see FORM OF THE ALTAR), which according to the prescriptions of the Roman Pontifical (h.l.) is itself to be consecrated simultaneously with the solemn dedication of the church edifice. Hence it must stand free on all sides, allowing ample room for the consecrator to move around it. As its name indicates, the high altar, being the chief place for the enactment of the sacrificial function, is to be prominent not only by its position but also by the richness of its material and ornamentation.
