Religious statues are an Epiphany gift to Magna parish

Intermountain Catholic

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Father Javier Virgen, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Magna, blesses the restored statues during Mass on Jan. 5. IC photo/Christine Young,

MAGNA — Six of the eight religious statues that were smashed by vandals who broke into Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Magna in August were returned to the parish and blessed by Father Javier Virgen, pastor, during a Jan. 5 Mass.

"You have brought joy back to our beautiful church," Fr. Virgen told Catherine Holt, the restoration artist who volunteered to repair the statues without cost.

Police arrested three juveniles in connection with the August break in. The vandals kicked in the rectory’s basement door, smashed statues and glass doors, and sprayed a fire extinguisher throughout the chapel.

Despite the vandalism, Fr. Virgen refused to be pessimistic. "There are good people in the world, especially Catherine; she is such an angel with her experience, her great talent and generosity," said Fr. Virgen. "She has repaired these beautiful statues that are very old and that the people love. God has given Catherine a special gift that took months and so much work. They look better now than they looked before."

In the Catholic Church, "we do not worship these statues; the teaching is that they are special reminders for us who Jesus is," Fr. Virgen said.

Now that the statues have been restored, the parishioners feel like everything is back to normal, said Deacon Rick Huffman.

Pete Rainaldi, a parishioner of 70 years, remembers the statues from his childhood. "I was really surprised at how well Catherine repaired them," he said.

Donna Chavez still remembers coming to church the morning the vandalism occurred.

"The police were here and we opened the door, the statues were all broken and it was so sad," she said. "Now the statues are so beautiful."

"It’s beautiful what she [Holt] has done for us," said Angelique Warfield. "We thought they were completely lost; they’ve been so important to us for so long. To have someone come in and destroy them like that was awful; we just cried and cried to see them smashed like that. We will continue to pray for those kids, that they will turn their lives around and come to God and do good instead of more destruction."

Holt said she is overwhelmed with the parish’s gratitude. "I’m going to miss the statues; they became a part of me as I worked on them," she said.

When Holt saw the news story of the vandalism, she knew putting the statues back together was something she wanted to do for the church, she said. Over the past four months she sorted and assembled hundreds of pieces of the vintage statues, hoping to have at least some of them back together by Christmas.

"I received them in bags and piles," Holt said. "Once I assembled the pieces, if any were missing, I had to remold and refabricate the missing parts; sand any cracks and breaks and fill them, airbrush and seal them. I’ve cleaned and taken care of any of the old damage. I was most worried about their faces, but I got most of the faces and I was so grateful. I would have found a church with a similar statue and molded it, but there was a miracle and I didn’t have to."

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish experienced four burglaries in two years, two of which occurred in 2012. Since August, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish has installed an alarm system and surveillance cameras.

After the public learned of the vandalism, the parish received donations from Judge Memorial Catholic High School, Juan Diego Catholic High School, a grant from the ALSAM Foundation, donations from parishioners and "from anonymous donors who saw the story on the news and wanted to help the parish recover from the burglaries," said Fr. Virgen.