Chicago, Ill., Oct 31, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Fr. Bart Winters hopes that beauty will help inspire the parishioners at his Chicago parish to greater holiness.
Built in 1904, St. Gregory the Great’s Catholic Church, in the city’s northern neighborhood of Edgewater, doesn’t need much help. But despite the beauty of the church building itself, the parish’s unique artist-in residence program is helping to bring the beauty of the church and the Catholic faith, alive in new ways.
Five years ago, shortly after Fr. Winters came on board as pastor of the gothic-style parish, which had fallen into some disrepair, he enlisted the help of Joseph Malham, a local artist and iconographer to help refurbish the building to its former greatness.
Malham, who was given studio space in the parish in exchange for his handiwork inside, soon multiplied into more artists, taking up residence at the parish--all enhancing its artistic life in their own ways.