THE OTHER ONE

We've written about the St. Francis de Sales plaster statue....you will remember that he was in the garage for a while and in staff office for several years.  Most recently he was at the school on the stair landing.  We were excited to see that he was originally in a niche over the altar in a photo from the around 1958. (marked here by the red arrow)

We had him touched up a bit and he now graces the entrance of the church in front of the historical arch over the original doorway of our church.

But this story is about the OTHER St. Francis de Sales statue.  He is made of fiberglass. He's had a checkered past, once stolen by an overzealous group from a bachelor party who were vacationing at the hotel across the street.  He was damaged in that incident and the bachelor group paid for a new one to be ordered.  He used to be just to the right of the sign by the front entrance, remember?

That one came in and was also placed outside in front of the church property.  This new one turned out to be defective and didn't hold up in the elements.  It was under warranty so another replacement was ordered.  It took a very long time for that one to come in and was finally delivered in July. Because the plaster SFDS Statue is now just inside this door, we thought it would be fitting for our "new" fiberglass statue to go to the school.  He was a little scary looking though!

Principal Gallagher came up with the idea to ask school parent (and art teacher) Marcie Fain to paint the fiberglass statue.  Marcie readily agreed and painted over the summer.  She donated her time and talent to this project and we are so grateful!  He is  now on the stairway at the school, greeting the St. Francis de Sales school kids every day with a warm welcome!

SOWING THE SEEDS OF FAITH

It's hard to picture now but our "old" Stations of the Cross were square panels of tone on tone wood. We sent them over to Conrad Schmitt Studios last December to be painted and gilded (and later put in frames). Before they left our building they were photographed and canvas prints were made.  We used those photo panels on the walls of the parish center while we held Mass there during the renovation.  They were beautifully done and many of you remarked that you could hardly tell that they were reproductions. Remember this?

It was the intention to donate this group of Stations of the Cross to a church or organization that could use them.  Fr. Beda, who has come to speak at SFDS for the past few years about his missionary work in Tanzania, was contacted.  He is in the process of building a new church and catechesis center in the village of Ngujni. Named St. John the Baptist, it has recently opened but is still getting some finishing touches (see photos below).  When asked if they needed Stations of the Cross for their new church, Fr. Beda enthusiastically said "YES!".  But how to get them there??

Parishioner Amy Amann stepped up and offered to work with her company, SPX FLOW in Delavan, to pack and ship these items (as well as some holy water fonts) to Fr. Beda's new church.  They have very generously donated the shipping costs to Africa.  Their employees helped to get them boxed and ready for shipping.  Our package traveled through Germany and then Dubai, and arrived at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Tuesday, September 5! Thank you to Amy, SPX FLOW, and all who made this possible.  The church will officially open for Masses on Nov. 3 and Molly Druffner promises to send photos of the installed Stations!