The newly purchased statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located in the vestibule of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church was dedicated by Fr. John Tonkin on Friday, May 10, 2024.
When Our Lady of Guadalupe Church was originally built, an elaborate mosaic work of art was installed behind the outside statue of Mary on the front of the church, above the front steps. Over time the mosaic started to come off, with some of the damage coming from birds.
Building and Grounds addressed this issue in 2021 when Fr. Ken Schnipke was pastor. They
discussed what could be done to preserve the history of the church and continue the vision of the parishioners who designed it. After consultation with the members of the Buildings & Grounds Committee, Parish Council, and Finance Council, Fr. John Tonkin obtained their consensus and directed Ron Schulze to move forward with recreating the mosaic and installing it in the vestibule.
Classical Glass & Tile, owned by Tom and Carol Hone, was hired to take down the mosaic and recreate it for the vestibule. Tom first documented the mosaic so he could design the new mosaic with accuracy. He also repaired the outside statue of Mary. They spent almost a year working to complete this work of art. The mosaic in the vestibule has been duplicated to what was on the outside of the church with the exception of the addition of amber waves of grain and green hills at the bottom.
The glass tiles are from Italy. Each piece was individually sanded and fitted into the mosaic. Just a small amount of blue was purchased to complete the design. The purchased glass was from the very same company in Italy where the original glass was purchased. The cabinetry was custom made and donated by Ron Schulze. Ron donated hundreds of hours to make the cabinetry and handle the details of this project. Tom and Carol Hone also created the two stained glass side panels. There are 280 pieces of glass per side. The panels include castilian roses which are the type of roses Juan Diego picked on the mountain ofTepeyac.
Fr. John Tonkin researched and purchased the custom made statue which came from Mexico. It is hand carved from marble and is 42" tall. Special lighting was purchased to accent this beautiful statue.
The mosaic contains the following glass tiles: ceiling - ·1,756 pieces, top half of blues - 9,454 pieces, gold &green center - 6,724 pieces, stars - 100 pieces, clouds - 346 pieces, bottom half blues - 6,930 pieces, green hills & amber waves - 3,017 pieces, for a total of 28,327 pieces of glass tile.
A special thanks goes out to Ron Schulze and Tom & Carol Hone for all they have done to
bring this project to completion.
