Dear friends in Christ,
Repair of sidewalk and widening of east side entrance to the parking lot
You may have noticed that the sidewalk and entrance to the parish parking lot on the east side of the property have been under construction. We are grateful that the City of Clayton is repairing that part of the sidewalk and widening that entrance way to accommodate more easily vehicles that enter through it. The hope is that this will preclude them from hitting the stone wall on the south side of the entrance way.
Statue of the Apotheosis of Saint Louis
You may have been following the recent controversy regarding the placement of the statue of Saint Louis on Art Hill in Forest Park. The statue is entitled the Apotheosis of Saint Louis. The original plaster cast of it stood near the entrance to the 1904 World’s Fair. Reflecting upon it, Rolla Wells, the Mayor of the City of Saint Louis from 1901 to 1909, wrote that the statue was placed there as Saint Louis is the patron saint of the City and was meant to be a symbol of peace as evidenced by the transposed sword in his hand (“From Episodes of My Life, the Statue of St. Louis,” in Seeking St. Louis: Voices of a River City: 1670-2000 [2000], 477).
After the Fair, the statue was cast in bronze and presented by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company to the City of Saint Louis in 1906. On the occasion of the presentation of the statue, David R. Francis, President of the Company and former Governor of Missouri and Mayor of Saint Louis, said in his address that “as the property of the people, I confide this superb statue of our patron saint” (ibid.). While none of the saints in the history of the Church were perfect, they gradually responded to the grace of God at work in their hearts to draw close to Him and ultimately became models of virtue. Such was the case with Louis IX and such was also the case with his younger sister, Isabelle, who was also canonized.
In light of the controversy regarding the statue of the patron saint of the City and County of Saint Louis, and indeed the Archdiocese, the words of the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis seem particularly apropos at the present time: “the removal of the statue will not erase the history, but our present day collaboration can help us move forward” (Ghazala Hayat, Chair Public Affairs Committee, Statement of June 2020). Here I am reminded of the words of our Holy Father Pope Francis who said that
Like Christ on the way to Emmaus, the Church wishes to be close to and to accompany every man and woman. Such a readiness to walk together is much more necessary in this day and age, marked by profound and never-before-known interactions between diverse peoples and cultures. In this context, the Church will be ever more committed to travel along the path of dialogue and to intensify the already fruitful cooperation with all those who, belonging to different religious traditions, share her intention to build relations of friendship and share in the many initiatives of dialogue (Message of Pope Francis on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, May 19, 2014).
Let the present moment be an opportunity for us to pray for such collaboration between Christians and those of other religious traditions with a view toward friendship marked by dialogue.
In Christ,
Father Bené
St. Joseph Catholic Church, Clayton MO 