10/24/2014
[i]Rebuild My Church
Chosen For Nationwide Catholic Arts Exhibition[/h2]
My two newest Faith based works have been chosen by Juror Janet McKenzie for inclusion in The 5th Nationwide Catholic Arts Exhibition. In this blog entry I will speak in detail about my image
Rebuild My Church. Info on
The Nativity will follow.
When I had the idea for the image
Rebuild My Church, I can remember sitting in my home watching television when a news story came on about hundreds of church closings. I had seen stories similar to this in past years and I decided to address the issue through visual means. I wondered if I could find a church that was actually in need of repair and create an image hoping to inspire someone to purchase or rebuild just one church.
I began looking for churches in need of repair in the Pittsburgh area that could work for such an image. My Google search came up with one cathedral in the area. The owner or pastor there left me a rather brief response and was less than interested. I continued to search and eventually found the former Our Lady Help Of Christians Church in Larimer. It took days and some luck to find the owner of the property which had now become Heavenly Vision Ministries. Reverend Armenia Johnson, a very kind woman gave me the go ahead to photograph her church. After my visit and some small adventures I became strangely connected with the location but very saddened by the fact that it might be a lost cause, as the church is quite dilapidated. The stained glass windows, doors, and pews were smashed and destroyed. When asking Reverend Johnson how this happened, she stated that the attitude of the community had sadly just changed. A place of worship, once the heart of the community was now almost forgotten.
I always look for God's plan when creating these works and humbly believe that the work in some small way is a part of it. After seeing the church in such a heartbroken state, I could not see the plan for this beautiful and once vibrant place. Weeks later, I came to realize coincidentally that my mother who passed away several years ago had been baptized in that very church as an infant. Realizing this, the title of the piece almost became words from my mother's mouth telling me to push the image further. To spread and share the image with as many people as possible. The fate of Our Lady Help Of Christians Church in Larimer is still undecided, however some have already used the image as a rallying cry to save other churches in the state of Pennsylvania. What if the purpose of the project was not to rebuild Our Lady Help Of Christians but to have it inspire the rebuilding of hundreds of other churches?
In the recent months Pittsburgh landed a $30 million dollar grant to rebuild Larimer. Hopefully this piece of history will not be overlooked. To explore the work in more detail please use the link provided and read the artist statement below.
* http://www.christopherruane.com/Set/Sacred-Art-Modern-World/Rebuild-My-Church*
Artist Statement:
The image Rebuild My Church is a modern interpretation of one of the miracles experienced by St. Francis. During a pilgrimage to Rome, Francis had a mystical vision of Jesus Christ in a dilapidated church, just outside of Assisi. The icon of a crucified Christ came alive and said to him, ”Francis go and repair my house, which as you can see, is falling into ruin”.
God has a way of providing for us exactly what we need and again we find ourselves in need of a guiding light. My image brings the tale of St. Francis to a contemporary time inundated with countless churches closing and others crumbling due to a lack of attendance and faith. We are once again in need of rebuilding.
You view the story in our lifetime. St. Francis, now depicted as Pope Francis, prays to an animated crucifix in the destroyed Our Lady Help of Christians Church (Heavenly Vision Ministries) in the Larimer neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Once a place of worship, it is now a symbol of the hardship and neglect the church and community have undergone in recent years. Upon close inspection of the image, you find symbolism in the architecture and environment. The modern buildings peering in through the crumbling rooftop represent the attitude of the modern world, superseding the ideals of our sacred traditions. The wolf, which is another symbol of St. Francis, represents the fact that the modern Francis has not yet tamed the problems of our contemporary church. You will also see in the architecture three pillars on the left side and one larger pillar on the right. The three pillars are leaning and breaking, while the largest pillar supporting a fisherman’s net bears the weight of the structure; in Pope Innocent III’s mystical dream, Francis physically held up the church. Symbolically, the fate of the church is now resting on Pope Francis. The hammers at Christ’s feet, which are all different, represent the fact that we cannot rely on one man to repair all of the problems. We must all pick up our hammers and become carpenters of faith.
In the image, you are peering into the church; through all the controversy and tribulations, people are still interested and actively seeking truth. As the vines are reaching for the light, so too are the disenchanted, uncertain, and skeptical. We are all peering through and seeking the Light, Christ.
