Sisters Undertake Restoration of Stations of the Cross
by Sister Babette Opferman
In July of 1988, a set of 15 symbolic outdoor Stations of the Cross were carved in wood by Sister Ave Maria Foley in memory of her mother Anna. Anna's name is carved into several of the stations, and Sister Ave's name, along with IHM and OLP, is carved into station VI. The stations were installed near the Theresa Maxis Center and near the site of Our Lady of Peace Residence, until they were removed for the new building to go up. When OLP was completed in 2006, Sister Mary Alice Jacquinot's father offered to oversee the relocation of the Stations in gratitude to our Sister Emerita. They have been on the path between the hermitages and Lourdes Shrine ever since.
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Two years ago several sisters noticed that one of the stations had a large hole in it, as if had been pecked by a woodpecker. There were some cracks in a few others.
Sister Babette Opferman offered to clean, repair and weatherproof all of the stations as soon as it was feasible. Along came the quarantine and time was provided for this project, which has now been in process since early June.
Sister Marianne Knight kindly offered to help, and painted all the mounting brackets, plus the rooftop on each Station. With her help, we are now finishing up and we hope the stations will be reinstalled in September.
It has been a great gift to see those carvings come back to life again. It was Sister Ave's hope that praying these Stations of the Cross would bring people closer to God.
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