The windows of St. Mary Magdalen

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ne of Father Breitenstein’s primary visions for the parish was a national shrine of the penitent. He envisioned a church, a shrine as well as a parish church, where sinners, penitents, might find refuge, comfort, and forgiveness. This vision was the basis for this architectural design of the present, permanent church.

This is the foundation for the design of the windows, which started under Fr. Phong Pham at the end of 2006, and was completed under Fr. Godfrey Onyekwere in March of 2010. In the main entrance and the above central clerestory window the Holy Spirit is represented by a flow extending upward and then the arms of God wrap around the upper clerestory windows embracing the sinners and penitents inside and welcoming those on the outside.

The circles represent God’s never ending love for us, and the many colors represent the diversity in the church. The flow of the Holy Spirit also goes downward and out embracing the penitents represented in each of the doorways. The Shrine of the Penitent as it was called, has nine exits, each representing a saint or other whose actions before total conversion to God reinforce the belief in penitence: St. Mary Magdalen, a woman posessed by seven demons; St. Augustine of Hippo, a hedonist; King David, adulterer and murderer; St. Dismas, a condemned thief; St. Peter, who denied the Lord; St. Paul, a Zealot and persecutor of the early church; the prodigal son, the selfish squanderer; all souls, in need of God’s mercy; and venerable Matt Talbot, a drunkard. All doors lead to God’s altar of forgiveness, the ultimate symbol of mercy and rebirth.

St. Augustine St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.), a philosopher and theologian who became a bishop, was born in Algeria to a pagan father and a Catholic mother. As a boy he received a Christian education, but later, as a pagan intellectual, resisted his mother’s pleas to become a Christian. After his conversion to Catholicism, he developed his own approach to philosophy and theology. He believed that the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom and framed the concepts of original sin and just war. When the Roman Empire in the West was starting to disintegrate, Augustine developed the concept of the church as a spiritual City of God distinct from the material Earthly City. He is regarded by most scholars as the most important figure in the ancient Western church, especially on the doctrine of grace.

King David

David, the second king of Israel, was highly regarded as a warrior, musician, and poet. He is traditionally credited with composing many of the psalms in the Book of Psalms. David’s life was not perfect. He betrayed one of his military commanders, Uriah, sending him to certain death in battle in order to cover up his adulterous relationship with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. A prophet named Nathan confronted David with his sin. He repented and God restored him.

St. Dismas

Saint Dismas is also known as the Good Thief or the Penitent Thief. According to Mark and Matthew, two thieves were crucified at the same time as Jesus, one on his right hand, and one on his left. Both at first mocked Jesus (Matthew 27:44); Luke however, mentions that the thief on Jesus' right repents of his sins, saying, "We have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he adds, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus replies to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:39-43).

St. Peter St. Peter, one of twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus from his first disciples, was the leader of the early Christian church. He features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was a fisherman from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee. During the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin, Peter denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed. The keys used as a symbol of the Pope's authority refer to the "keys of the kingdom of Heaven" promised to Peter. "I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:18-20).

St. Mary Magdalen

In the New Testament Mary Magdalen is mentioned as one of the women who accompanied Christ and ministered to him (Luke 8:2-3). It is also said that seven devils had been cast out of her (Mark 16:9). She is also named as standing at the foot of the cross (John 19:25). She saw Christ laid in the tomb, and she was the first recorded witness of the Resurrection.

St. Paul

According to his own testimony, Paul violently persecuted followers of Jesus before his conversion to Christianity. According to the Acts of the Apostles, his conversion took place in a life-changing experience on the road to Damascus, where he experienced a vision of the resurrected Jesus after which he was temporarily blinded. Together with Simon Peter and James the Just, he is among the most notable of early Christian missionaries. Paul's belief in Jesus as the Christ dramatically changed the course of his life. He wrote most of the New Testament Epistles and is referred to as the Apostle to the Gentiles.

The Prodigal Son The Prodigal Son, also known as the Lost Son, is one of the best known parables of Jesus. Jesus tells the story of a man who has two sons. The younger demands his share of his inheritance while his father is still living, and goes off to a distant country where he “waste[s] his substance with riotous living” and eventually has to take work as a swineherder (clearly a low point, since swine are unclean in Judaism). There he comes to his senses and decides to return home and throw himself on his father’s mercy, thinking that even if his father disowns him, being one of his servants is still far better than feeding pigs. But when he returns home, his father greets him with open arms and hardly gives him a chance to express his repentance. He kills a fatted calf, puts a new robe on him, a ring on his finger, and sandles on his feet, to celebrate his son’s return.

All Souls

In Western Christianity, All Souls’ Day commemorates the faithful departed. This celebration is based on the doctrine that the souls of the faithful, which at death have not been cleansed from the temporal punishment due to venial sins, or have not fully been purged from attachment to mortal sins, cannot attain the beatific vision in heaven yet, and that they may be helped to do so by prayer and by the sacrifice of the Mass.

Venerable Matt Talbot Matt Talbot was born in 1856 to a poor family in Dublin, Ireland. Matt left school at age twelve to work for a wine merchant and in whiskey stores. Before long he was an alcoholic. He once stole a fiddle from a street entertainer and sold it to buy drink. One evening, penniless, he waited outside a pub in the hope that somebody would invite him in for a drink. After several friends passed him by, he went home in disgust and announced to his mother that he was going to “take the pledge” (renounce drink). Talbot maintained sobriety for the following forty years of his life. He found strength in prayer, began to attend daily Mass, and read religious books and pamphlets. He repaid all his debts scrupulously. Having searched for the fiddler to repay him for the instrument he had stolen, and failing to find him, he gave the money to the church to offer Mass for him. Talbot was on his way to Mass in 1925 when he collapsed and died. Heavy penitential chains were found on his body wound around his waist, an arm, and a leg.

Donors to the stained glass window project Dedication Date: April 11, 2010 PENITENT DOORS Bruce and Nancy Baum Tom Blackburn The Biss family James and Donna Callaghan Kevin and Keith Callaghan families Norbert Dishinger Joe Erhardt Tammy Hickey Chuck Kersjes, Julie Kersjes, Darren and Amy White Bob and Dolly Konwinski Rod and Ginny Kroeckel Barbara Kuhn Lorraine McKnight Robert Mitchell Daniel and Mary Lou Myers David and Johanne Neu Janet Nopper Maria Orr Father Phong Pham Jerome and Joan Radamacher Marianne Reber Margo Rich Lorraine Thenikl The Watterson family UPPER CLERESTORY Mary Lee Anderson Norbert Dishinger Diane Friar The McCormick family Rosalie (Oppenneer) Polaschik Andrew Polaschik Marie Reynolds Bill and Wendy Rohn Bob and Boots Schmidt Darrell and Alice Schmuker

In memory of Brian Thomas Welscott In honor of Father John Breitenstein and Joseph Knape In memory of Sr. Mary Alicia Hemmer, RSM In memory of the Callaghan family The Callaghan children In memory of Othmar and Thelma Laufenberg Joe and Dawn Erhardt family In memory of James M. Hickey In memory of Barbara Kersjes Ted and Josephine Niemiec family & Edward and Flora Konwinski family Rod L. Kroeckel family The William E. and Barbara A. Kuhn family In memory of Jack A. McKnight In memory of Janet K. Mitchell The Daniel Myers Family In memory of Paul Neu In memory of James Nopper In honor of the Bucek and Orr families In memory of the Pham, Nguyen, and Kupersmith families In memory of Alberta Gosso In memory of Richard E. Reber In memory of Benson F. Rich In memory of Henry A. Thenikl In memory of George and Irene Watterson

John Anderson family, Frank Kaminski family, Frank Breitenstein family In memory of Norbert and Marcella Dishinger Diane Friar, Mike and DeAnne Friar and children, Beth Friar In memory of James and Bridget Young In memory of Bartz and Oppenneer families In memory of Bernadette B. Polaschik In memory of F. Joseph Reynolds In memory of Betty Rohn & Robert Hill, Jr. In memory of Alice and Martin Schmidt The Darrell R. Schmuker family

St. Mary Magdalen Parish 1213 52nd St. SE Kentwood, MI 49508 (616) 455-9310 www.stmmagdalen.org

photos by Rudy Malmquist and Maria Orr