Faith through Art: Praying with the women of the church at St. Austin Parish

By Louise Nelson and Sandra Martin | Guest Columnists

Women of Faith Unbound (WOFU) formed to explore the roles of women in the Catholic Church. We began by presenting a series about women leaders of the early church, to teach about the important contributions women who followed Jesus made to the founding of the church.
Art both teaches and inspires, and since the sanctuary of St. Austin Parish in Austin did not include any images of women other than those of Mary, we received our pastor Paulist Father Chuck Kullmann’s approval to add statues of St. Mary of Magdala, who brought word of Jesus’ resurrection to the apostles, and St. Phoebe, who carried St. Paul’s letters to the Romans.
To oversee the project, we enlisted a parishioner of St. Austin to serve as project manager, and formed an advisory committee consisting of three WOFU members, another parishioner who designs furniture, and Father Kullmann.
In 2018 the project manager began by researching wood carving studios. Though the carving of religious wooden statues is a diminishing art, three studios expressed interest in the project: Agrell Architectural Carving (UK/USA), Ferdinand Stuflesser 1875 (northern Italy), and The Sculpture Studio (Arizona).
The selection process began by asking the three studios to prepare a drawing of Mary of Magdala, for which we provided many details. One of the key specifications was that the statues should be similar in style to the current statues of Sts. Peter and Paul in our sanctuary. We wanted the statues to appear as if they had been a part of our physical church from its beginning, just as women have been an integral part of the historical church from its inception. After reviewing the drawings and prices, we asked two of the studios to prepare half-size clay scale models.
Based on the models, as well as the sculptors’ sensitivity and attention to the committee’s input and criteria, we awarded the commission to Mark Carroll of The Sculpture Studio. The proximity of Mark to Texas was one of the factors involved in his commission, but the primary reason was his work best embodied our vision of the project.
Once we identified the sculptor, the long and arduous process of moving the statues toward completion began. This involved providing feedback to the artist about their postures, hand gestures, facial expressions, robes and the items they carried.
“God is in the details,” and we wanted every detail, from the sandals on their feet to the expressions on their lips, to portray the holiness and humanity of Sts. Phoebe and Mary of Magdala.
The carved statues were shipped unstained to Austin in the fall of 2019. The furniture designer on our committee donated his time to finish them – carefully matching the stain to the existing statues of Sts. Peter and Paul – and hang them in the sanctuary. As we had hoped, the two new saints blended in perfectly with the existing statuary as if they had been there forever.
In December, St. Austin Parish held a blessing ceremony to welcome Sts. Mary of Magdala and Phoebe into our community of saints. Everyone is invited to come see and pray with these beautiful works of art.