Original artist, new stations of the cross at St. Angela

Story and Photos By Christine Bordelon Clarion Herald

When Father Beau Charbonnet was appointed pastor of St. Angela Merici in Metairie 6 1/2 years ago, he looked around the church and thought about unifying and possibly updating its modern interior and exterior and the elements of the faith in and around the sacred space.

He moved the tabernacle from an alcove in the pews to a new location behind the altar and transformed that alcove into a chapel to Infant Jesus of Prague.

He moved the crucified Jesus closer to the altar by suspending it from the ceiling.

He also did exterior landscaping, establishing two gardens honoring the Blessed Mother with statues from the now-closed Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Uptown New Orleans. The gardens are now thriving and have frequent visitors.

Father Charbonnet then turned his attention to the stations of the cross. Local artist Ruth Goliwas, a Catholic convert, had previously designed the 14 embroidered, linen-like stations that were crafted in a Nouveau Italianate style and installed in the mid-1980s.

In addition to the stations, Goliwas had designed several other interior elements for the church, including a relief of Mary made out of wood; the bronze tabernacle with a pewter lamb; stained-glass saints on the exterior doors; stained-glass murals of St. Angela’s life; and etchings of well-known local nuns and priests.

So, Father Charbonnet reached out to Goliwas in hopes she could create new series of stations that were colorful.

“I felt it was time to update them and bring a consistent design with the rest of her work in the church,” he said.

Father Charbonnet wasn’t sure what he wanted, so he asked Goliwas to “think out of the box and let God inspire her.”

Artist’s trial and error

Goliwas spent the past 10 months carefully and prayerfully designing new stations of the cross.

“I told him to let me throw something around, and I decided to combine mosaic, enamel and glass.”

In the early stages, Goliwas brought Father Charbonnet a prototype, and he loved it.

“I knew what it would take to make, and it was a lot of work,” said Goliwas, who has a degree in fine arts from the University of New Orleans. “They are made of small pieces of glass like you would make a mosaic.”

After selecting the glass, she cut it, loosely assembled it and then painted the glass with the station’s scene. She was meticulous with the face of Jesus and those of the other figures.

“It was a lot of trial and error; a lot of moving pieces to get it just the way I wanted,” she said. “I didn’t want it to jump out on anybody. I wanted it to be colorful but soft – not any hard colors.”

She bound the glass pieces with a process called copper foiling instead of lead and then soldered it “into a solid piece of work.”

Because the stations were so fragile, Goliwas mounted them on a piece of mahogany equipped with a ledge to hold some of the weight.

Beauty drew her to the faith

Goliwas said she found her niche in art when she started working for the Catholic church. Studies in the lay program at Notre Dame Seminary have enhanced her work.

“It was like wading in the water at first,” she said when she started doing Catholic works of art. “Once I went to Notre Dame, I started to better understand all the things I loved about the Catholic Church. That was it. I am going to go swimming now. It is heaven to be involved in doing this.”

Not only does she get to use every technique she learned in college, but she uses the memories of sitting inside Catholic churches  and “marveling at what I saw.”

At the time, she was Lutheran, like her mom, and her father was Catholic. She  converted after Hurricane Katrina.

“I wondered, ‘How do you get to do this stuff?’ and, suddenly, I was immersed in it,” she said.

In addition to work at St. Angela Merici, Goliwas has done stained-glass panels at St. Francis Xavier, repaired a stained-glass panel at the archbishop’s residence after Katrina and done many others Catholic projects.

Parishwide effort

Instead of having 14 individuals sponsor the 14 stations, 40 St. Angela Merici parishioners contributed to the new stations during a nine-month campaign. Their names are engraved on a bronze plaque behind the altar.

The new stations were dedicated at the end of 2019. Father Charbonnet blessed each station as Goliwas explained her design process to parishioners.

“It was beautiful and well attended,” he said.

Father Charbonnet is overjoyed by the finished stations, especially the detail that went into the eyes and faces, which he considers the elements that draw a person into a work of art. He also knows the art style is unique to St. Angela.

“Each station is so personal and intimate,” he said. “For a station to draw you in, the artist really has to enter into prayer to do it right. … When they were all installed, I walked around … as I was drawn into the walk that Jesus walked, it made me think about the process – how much work and prayer that Ruth put into this … making these unique, personal and spiritually uplifting.

“It is hard to say uplifting when you talk about the  cross. The Way of the Cross is tragic, but it also is hopeful because it it is leading toward the resurrection of the Lord. It is mysterious, when you think about it.”

The old stations will be presented to the archdiocesan archives to, it is hoped, be given to a parish in need, Father Charbonnet said.

Christine Bordelon can be reached at [email protected].