Category: Diversity / Multicultural

When Fr. Andrew Marinak passed away in September of 2021 he remembered our parish in his Last Will & Testament. Fr. Andy was a very proud son of Steelton in addition to serving as the last pastor of St. James Church; we are honored and humbled that he remembered our parish family.

At least as far back as the 1980’s there were desires to have a prominent and visible crucifix in the front of our Church. Many of the proposals over the years would have drastically altered the artistic cohesion of our sanctuary appointments. Last Summer when the large wooden crucifix at the main stairwell was moved for storage, several people saw the striking beauty of the corpus (carved body of Jesus) and so the idea of installing a hanging crucifix or “rood cross” came about.

A quick history of that crucifix: Under Msgr. Rudolph Fuhr’s pastorate of St. John’s Church, the congregation moved its church from the original church at Second St and Juneberry Alley up to Enhaut; the centerpiece of the sanctuary was the large cross with a beautiful, hand-carved corpus imported from Germany. When Fr. Marinak celebrated his first Mass on Sunday, June 3, 1956 at St. John’s in Enhaut he would have looked upon that central altar cross.

In neo-Gothic churches such as ours the rood cross is a very common and traditional architectural feature. Within the next several weeks this rood cross is going to be installed within the proscenium arch of our sanctuary. With the soaking height of our heaven-like ceiling, this cross will not detract from the existing sanctuary murals, but instead it will culminate the artwork and make the statement that “We proclaim Christ crucified…Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23.

The rood cross project is made possible by a portion of Fr. Marinak’s bequest to the parish. Thank you, Fr. Andy!

It was a little painted statue and stood a foot and a half high, was dressed in exquisite court dress, and cherished as an heirloom wedding gift. It came from Spain during an early spread of devotion to the Christ Child.

In the 17th century, a Spanish noblewoman named Isabel Manrique gave this little statue to her daughter Marie when Marie married a Czech noble. Marie gave it, in turn, to her own daughter Polyxena when the later married.

Polyxena treasured it for many years, but at last gifted it to the Carmelite monastery of Our Lady of Victory.

Shortly afterward the Czech kingdom was invaded by the Saxons, forcing the Carmelites to flee their monastery. The statue of the Christ Child, damaged and tattered was left behind in the ruins of the church.

Ten years later in 1638, a Carmelite priest found it. He took it to his church in Prague and displayed it by the altar.

Suddenly, as he knelt in prayer before it, the statue spoke, saying: “Have mercy on me and I will have mercy on you. Give Me My hands and I will give you peace. The more you honor Me the more I will bless you.”

After this, many miracles were reported to have been wrought through the statue and devotion to the Christ Child increased all the more.

Many saints, such as Therese of Lisieux and Francis of Assisi, were greatly devoted to the Infant Jesus. Nurture love for the Child Jesus in your own home.

The Catholic Company: Bite-Sized Faith