with Sacred Heart’s director of facilities
management, John Duncan, to power
saw the old hands from the statue,
sand the flat surfaces, drill connecting
screws into the new hands, and epoxy
the new hands onto the arms. Mr.
Casamatta also was part of the crew
that carefully wheeled the statue out of
storage on November 11 and secured it
in its dramatic new location. This effort
was led by Joseph Dapkus, GrunwellCashero’s general superintendent, who
also oversaw the delicate process of
cleaning the statue.
“My mother is a devout Catholic.
She was mad at me at first when I told
her I was cutting off the hands of Jesus,” Mr. Casamatta said laughing as he
and Mr. Dapkus were gluing the hands
in place. “But then I told her we were
putting new hands on the statue. She
really thought that was nice and wasn’t
mad anymore.”
November 11 was a chilly day and the
epoxy was taking longer to dry than expected. As Mr. Casamatta stood pressing a hand to an arm for about a half an
hour, with the epoxy still being tacky,
he commented, “You know, Jesus had
to carry his cross a long way. I guess I
can stand here another fifteen minutes
or so holding up his hands.”
A Mystical Portal
“It’s no accident that the Sacred Heart
of Jesus stands before the portal to the
seminary,” offered Monsignor Lajiness,
who had long wanted to “resurrect” the
vintage statue out of storage and have
it publically displayed again. “Christ’s
heart is the true portal of Sacred Heart
Major Seminary.
“The statue reminds us that only
‘through him, with him, and in him’
are we able to accomplish the obligation of forming priests, deacons, and
lay women and men for the awesome
task of the New Evangelization. Each
time our students, faculty, and staff
walk up that wide walkway toward the
seminary entranceway—each time I walk
up the walkway—we are reminded we
are always meant to stride toward him.”
A Shining Light
The semi-circular planting bed surrounding the statue is being attractively
landscaped this spring and summer.
Much of the previous landscaping had
to be removed during the reconstruction of the elevated porch last year.
Monsignor Lajiness also has commissioned electricians to install a cuttingedge LED lighting system around the
statue. Soon, the Sacred Heart of Jesus
will shine with radiance throughout
the evenings and nights as a beacon of
faith to all who come to the campus.
2.
1. Made of brilliant Carrara marble, the
restored and repaired Sacred Heart of
Jesus again greets students and visitors
after a thirty-year absence.
2. John Duncan, director of facilities management, tests the fit of the statue’s new
hands.
3. The statue returns to its original placement site, the granite niche before the
main entrance.
4. With its hands secured as adhesive
dries, John Dapkus, left, and Sid Casamatta
do some last-minute touching up of the
statue.
3.
4.
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