MONROE — “Beautiful!” “Wow!”
These were some of the reactions from parishioners as they entered Our Lady of Lourdes Church recently and were greeted by a large new mural that dominates the narthex.
The mural features the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes and St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin – a unique design conceived by Father Benjamin Roberts, pastor, and handcrafted by local artist Lisa Autry.
Father Roberts explains that the image is meant to illustrate the Church’s message of unity amid diversity, as well as the Church’s embrace of all people, particularly the marginalized. It also contains multiple scriptural references to Mary and through her, to Christ.
He describes the depiction of Mary as a unique combination of traditional Marian images: clothed in blue, hands folded in prayer, standing on the world, and crushing the serpent under her feet as foretold in Genesis (Gen. 3:15). The heavens, stars on a deep blue field, form the backdrop as Mary stands over the doorway leading into the church. She is the “Gate of Heaven,” through which Christ entered the world.
She looks straight at people as they come into the church, yet in her attention-getting position “she points us to Jesus,” he says.
Following her lead, people enter into the church to partake of the Eucharist at Mass, he notes – the Supper of the Lamb, one of many references to the Book of Revelation featured in the artwork throughout the church. Walking through the door into the nave, another of Autry’s murals depicting the Lamb of God is immediately visible over the tabernacle in the sanctuary.
The new narthex mural also depicts two humble “outcasts” who received visits from Mary: St. Bernadette, who was so poor her family lived in a former jail; and St. Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican. They both experienced multiple apparitions of Mary that were pivotal in the life of the Church.
The two saints come from different eras, continents and cultures, yet what unites them – and us – is Mary our mother, Father Roberts says. “We are children of the same mother, and children of the same Father.”
He notes, “At the heart of the spirituality of this parish are two visionaries: St. Bernadette and St. Juan Diego. Placed on either side of Mary, they look up at her, and there is enough space between them that anyone looking at the mural feels a part of the group.”
The mural also speaks to the growing diversity of the Church in western North Carolina over the past couple of decades, particularly evidenced at the Monroe parish. Membership has increased to include a large number of Latino families as well as older Caucasian members, several thousand parishioners in all.
Bringing together these two communities – despite their age, cultural and language differences – has been Father Roberts’ mission as pastor.
The mural is meant as a welcome to all peoples and all cultures, and especially the outcast and marginalized, he says. He likes to think of the Marian image as “Our Lady of the Periphery” or “Our Lady of the Outcasts.”
The mural caps an extensive series of art projects over the past few years at the Monroe church, including floor-to-ceiling murals inside the church, stained-glass windows, and a Marian grotto – all funded by parishioners and designed by Father Roberts and Autry.
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor
Also online
See video highlights and read more about the other murals at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe:
A Church Transfigured: Preaching in the language of beauty
24 stained glass windows installed in Our Lady of Lourdes Church