Rare opportunity to purchase churchs’ stained glass

By NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer

For the last 13 years, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has been leading the way in the preservation of sacred art through the Ecclesiastical Exchange Program. In that time, thousands of religious artworks and objects — including stained-glass windows — have been saved from being destroyed or sold to antique shops.
Now the faithful of the Archdiocese have a rare opportunity to make some of those stained-glass windows their own.
Ecclesiastical Exchange is an innovative program begun in 1991 by Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, the former Archbishop of Philadelphia, which seeks to conserve religious artifacts no longer used in active churches, or saved from closed churches and convents. The majority of religious items are placed in other churches within the Archdiocese but some have found their way to churches or religious institutions as far away as California, said Ed Rafferty of the Ecclesiastical Program.
Pastors are made aware of religious items they may purchase for a donation through a monthly mailer sent out to priests and religious communities. The proceeds from these sales go back to benefit the parish, or in the case of a church-closing, to the parish that incorporates the remaining congregation. None of it goes to the Archdiocese.
“The program for reclaiming stained-glass windows has been a model for other dioceses,” said Joseph K. Beyer, president of Beyer Studio, Inc., the studio handling the restoration and placement of the stained-glass windows.
Having worked with the Archdiocese from the inception of the program, Beyer has seen first-hand how this program has saved countless religious artifacts that are now on display at other locations throughout the country.
Through the program, St. Monica Church, which was destroyed by fire in 1991, received woodwork, stained- glass windows and Stations of the Cross carvings — among other religious items — from Corpus Christi Church , which closed in 1987.
Gonzaga University received 28 stained-glass windows — all the windows preserved from the basement of the Most Blessed Sacrament Church. “I felt like it was providential,” Beyer said.
The program eases the minds of parishioners concerned over what happens to religious objects that had been donated to the closing churches.
“It’s satisfying to people that their hard-work donations are being used for what they were intended,” Rafferty said.
In some cases, stained-glass windows that are more decorative in nature do not make it into other churches; in other cases, remnant pieces of windows that did not fit in a new location are returned to Beyer Studio. Those artifacts are restored in a manner that makes them suitable for secular settings, Beyer said.
It is those items that will be on sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Hedwig Church, 24th and Brown Streets, affording individuals who love stained glass a rare opportunity to purchase priceless pieces for a fraction of their original cost. The event is sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Special Projects and Closures.
“Anyone who has any connection to a church that has closed in the last decade, or is nuts over stained-glass windows — especially sacred art — should be there, and be there early,” Beyer said.
For more information visit www.beyerstudio.com.

Contact Nadia Pozo at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 965-4614.