As we receive our new ambo and presider's chair (often called the "sede" from the Latin word for chair), we offer you some reflections on the significance of both items to the Church and our parish family:
 

The Ambo

The Church teaches that at the Mass the people of God are served from two tables: the table of the Word and the table of the Sacrament. From both these tables the faithful of God receive Christ himself, present in the Word proclaimed and in the bread that has become his Body and the wine that has become his Blood. It is therefore important when the Holy Scriptures are proclaimed that it is clear to those present that these words we hear are not just any words, but are the living Word of God. There are many ways in which the importance of the Word is emphasized, but of particular importance in establishing the importance that the Word of God is the ambo, from which the Word is proclaimed.
The material and design of the ambo should themselves point to the permanence and beauty of God’s saving Word The dignity of the Word of God requires that the Church have a place that is suitable for the proclamation of the Word and toward which the attention of the whole congregation of the faithful naturally turns during the Liturgy of the Word. In the same way that the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist are so closely related as to make up one act of worship, so it is appropriate that there be an evident relationship between the ambo and the altar without one mimicking the other.
The dignity of the ambo requires that only a minister of the Word should make use of it. The ambo is used exclusively for the proclamation of God’s Word in the Scriptures, including the singing of the responsorial psalm; the elucidation and application of the Word in the Homily and General Intercessions, and also the Easter proclamation (Exsultet). It is never used for announcements.
Our new ambo is made of a lovely stone (“Diana Reale”) that echoes that of the altar without copying it. The background wave design of the altar (symbolizing baptism) is carried across to the ambo signifying the breath/spirit/word of God (“ruach Elohim” in Hebrew) that calmed the chaotic waters of Genesis and is the font of wisdom and grace that pours forth from the Scriptures calming us, healing us, inspiring us with faith, hope, and divine love.
Deeply engraved in the mesa, the “table top” of the new ambo is the cruciform image of the Four Evangelists reminding the proclaiming minister that the Hebrew Scriptures are fulfilled in the Gospel stories of Jesus, the long-awaited savior of the world. 
 

The "Sede" or  the Presider’s Chair

Most homes in Western culture feature a dining room table as the center of much of the family’s social life. The common table of the family is not just where all gather to eat and drink for nourishment sake; it is also the place where tales are told, stories shared, life lessons taught and learned, humorous stories related to the sound of laughter. At most such family tables, there is what is sometimes called “the Captain’s Chair. It is often a bit grander or at least has arms to set it apart from the others. It is where the father presides; often there are two, one at each end, for both mother and father. 
Much the same is true in the church’s liturgy. At the center of our Church are the tables where the Lord’s Supper is celebrated, and the Word proclaimed. The third focal point in the Church is the “presider’s chair”, a chair set apart from all others that signifies the role of the priest and pastor who with care presides over the unfolding liturgy, assuring the celebration’s prayerful dignity and graciousness.  Though the presider’s chair should be distinctive and made of a style and material that is coherent with the altar and ambo, it should not appear as a throne; it is the place from which the pastor of the community leads, guides, and prays in the great sacrament of salvation. 
Our new presider’s chair is made of the same stone as the ambo, picks up the wave pattern from both the altar and ambo on its side panels, and dramatically features in its center medallion the 1st century image of the Good Shepherd, Christ, the model for every pastor and priest presiding over the common prayer of the Church.