New Zealand has a reputation for treating Rugby as the national religion but they have not gone quite as far as a parish in the UK.
The parish hall in St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bracknell UK is sporting a painting of recently retired captain of the Irish team, Brian O’Driscoll.
He has been included in a “Gallery of Good Examples”.
Some of the people in the Gallery were chosen by the 26 candidates for Confirmation in 2014
Their choices are a mixture of world famous and what appear to be to be more local heroes.
- Nelson Mandela
- Brian O’Driscoll,
- Martin Luther King
- Demi Lavato
- Fr Adrian Walker
- Fr Danny McEvoy
- Rosa Parks
- St Josephine Bahkita
- Mary Berry
- Gordon Ramsay
Parish Social Justice Co-ordinator Hugh Gibbons arranged and painted them on a 2400mm x 300mm wooden panel.
Mary Berry is shown holding one of her Fairtrade recipes alongside Gordon Ramsey in marathon kit. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and civil rights leader Rosa Parks carry banners as in a rally. Singer and anti-bullying campaigner Demi Lavato and anti-slavery symbol St Josephine Bakhita also appear. His two cats support parish priest Fr Danny McEvoy, while Fr Adrian Walker holds a dove.
Hugh says “the aim of these Galleries is to educate, inspire, intrigue and amuse – and for many years ahead.”
“I’d commend parishes and schools to consider one.”
“They’re different from different from religious art bought in for churches because they’re home-grown, specific to your place and time, and give a sort of snapshot of the parish can be updated and revisited.”
“You just need to identify a bit of fallow space and someone with a brush and a bit of imagination. Young people are obviously great at suggesting an interesting mix of figures.”
Other figures include:
- St Joseph wearing a safety helmet and carrying a spokeshave.
- St Margaret Clitherow has a keyring with ball-bearings brought from St Josef’s parish in Schweinfurt, Germany, as part of the Thanksgiving Field project at Winkfield.
- Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, famous “voice of the voiceless”, carries a CAFOD postcard saying “Aspire Not To Have More But To Be More”. An old wooden ruler is a reminder that he originally trained as a carpenter.
O’Driscoll has sent “sincere appreciation and best wishes” to the parish.
More information and photographs
Source
- Supplied: Hugh Gibbons
- A Gallery of Good Examples
- Image: Suppled: Hugh Gibbons
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News category: New Zealand.
