January 29, 2025 By Keith Benman The jubilee year theme “Pilgrims of Hope” has been made visible for parishioners at three Catholic churches in southwest St. Lawrence County. Our Lady of Grace parishioner Maureen Holleran has created a jubilee-year painting, which was on display for the Christmas season at St. John the Evangelist church, in Morristown. It will make the rounds of the parish’s other churches for the jubilee declared by Pope Francis. Its symbolism evokes the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, the artist said. “It’s basically meant to be a reference point to engender spirituality among the people in the pews,” Holleran said of her painting. “So they can take their spiritual journeys – but they are always anchored in those virtues.” Jubilee year 2025 began when Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve. The pope proclaimed the jubilee last year in a papal bull titled Spes Non Confudit, “Hope Does Not Disappoint.” The jubilee year will include a Jubilee for Artists at Vatican City in February, and individual dioceses and parishes throughout the world are being asked to include the arts in their celebrations. With that in mind, Our Lady of Grace pastor Father Christopher C. Carrara approached Holleran in the fall, asking if she could create something that would help convey the meaning of the Jubilee. Holleran has been training for lay ministry, and Father Carrara knew she had an extensive arts background. “I know that the arts have this ability – whether its music, or painting or drawing – to touch our hearts,” Father Carrara said. “They just have the ability to touch the human soul in a way that words sometimes fall short.” The two prayed about it and discussed possible themes and designs. Holleran drew up various designs and they settled on one where an anchor would be a central design element. The anchor has been displayed by Christians as a symbol of hope since the early days of the Church. It is also an element in the Vatican’s “Pilgrims of Hope” logo for the jubilee. Holleran got to work, and her painting was ready for display over the Christmas season. Along with the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity the painting evokes the parish’s setting along the St. Lawrence River. A cross embedded in the anchor signifies faith. The anchor is surmounted by a heart. A chain, signifying “the things that weigh us down,” wraps around the anchor. Playful blue and white swirls running across the bottom of the painting recall the waves of the St. Lawrence River. The word “HOPE” plays across the waves. Father Carrara will use the painting as an aid for his sermons when it’s displayed at the churches. He said he likes the way it can be used to illustrate a wide variety of Gospel readings. “My interest has always been in helping with liturgical design,” Holleran said. “I am enamored of symbolism and all the methods the church has used throughout history to communicate the ideas of faith.” For Holleran, that interest has been developed and refined through years of art education and teaching. She remembers when as a girl attending St. John’s School, in Morristown, a teacher from Ogdensburg’s Mater Dei College would visit for art lessons. Later, she attended the college for a year before going on to SUNY Potsdam and earning a bachelor’s degree in art history and ceramics. She began creating liturgical art early. As a teen and young woman, she created banners for St. John the Evangelist. Later, she created banners for The Shrine of Lourdes in Litchfield, Connecticut. She spent 22 years teaching art at Catholic schools in Virginia. Holleran raised four children in Virginia along with her husband John Considine, who passed away in 2015. In 1988, the family began spending summers in Morristown, and Holleran now splits her time between Virginia and Morristown, owning a home there. “I just feel like I’m fortunate enough to have had the education and the exposure to do something for the Church,” she said. “It’s very important to me.” |