By Rita McInerney

The small parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Hartwell has a dedicated group of women who have shown that faith, plus patience and perseverance can make anything possible. The evidence of their faith is now visible in the handsome stained glass windows they created for the church.

"We started talking about the windows in the summer of 1985. I was president of the ladies (group) at the time," said Maryann Dotson, who now leads the stained glass group. "None of us had any experience. Father (Patrick J. McCormick, pastor) had drawings and estimates from a company in Philadelphia."

Father McCormick said the estimates were in the $12,000-$15,000 range and parish funds were not then available.

Making windows for the church was an ambitious project for a group that had not one person who could do anything with stained glass except hang an ornament in a window. But there was a woman on the other side of town, Laurene Howell, who had a studio and was willing to teach these Catholic women how to work in stained glass.

Mrs. Howell had worked on windows with church architects and had created a life-sized Nativity scene for St. Mary's Church in Spring Lake, MI, before the family moved to North Georgia five years ago. A parishioner at Sacred Heart, Jay Marino, had seen pictures of her work and was enthusiastic about getting her to try the windows.

Ruth Pequignot, wife of Steve Pequignot, parish council president, expressed an interest in working on the windows. She was one of the women who began taking instruction with Mrs. Howell, making small glass suncatchers used as window decorations. The raised some money for the church windows project at the parish bazaar in the fall of 1985 and sold the suncatchers they had made at the town fair the following spring. "The whole community contributed," Maryann Dotson said.

Soon they had enough funds and enough confidence in their newly-acquired skill to begin the windows. Work began in February, 1986.

The goal was to create stained glass art for four windows, each three by six feet; two side fire doors of the same dimension, another window three by three feet, a cross approximately 13 by 17 feet and four sets of two small panels for the entrance door.

An overall theme, the symbols for Christ, was developed after sifting through the ideas and suggestions made by parishioners. Artist Ellen Egan, a parishioner, was a consultant, working with Mrs. Dotson and Mrs. Howell on the design and color. Mrs. Howell made working drawings and the full size patterns, called cartoons in stained glass circles.

The small inserts for the narrow windows in the main door were the first pieces made. The women made a set for each of the Church's four liturgical seasons. They worked in a small studio provided by Mrs. Howell. The sunlit room was equipped with a large turntable built especially for the project by John Mullarky, a former member of St. Mary's in Toccoa who has since moved to Wisconsin. A sacred Heart parishioner, Bill Beneigh built the light table used to dry out the windows for a few days before they are encased in two panes of glass and sealed with silicone. This prevents weather deterioration and other ravages of time.

With the funds they had raised the women purchased a grinding machine and tools for cutting, foiling and fitting, safety goggles and glass. Mrs. Howell lets them use the room free of charge. They pay the light bill and buy scrap glass whenever possible, "odds and ends and piece it all together," they tell a visitor.

The space, Maryann Dotson said, "is not big enough to turn around in. It's amazing that it all came together. The Holy Spirit has done these windows." He has been with them every step of the way, her co-workers agree.

At the studio not far from the sprawling Lake Hartwell near the South Carolina line, on a sunny afternoon last week, Averee Kotal, Grace Lewis and Ruth Pequignot were working on panels for the cross. They, along with Maggie Smith and Ann Murray, Averee's daughter, are the regulars. From this group, Mrs. Dotson said, "Three of us are here every day, for at least five hours." This has been the routine since the beginning.

Joan Towers, from the neighboring town of Lavonia, was a semi-regular, according to Mrs. Dotson. Skilled in the art, she worked every weekday during the summer and comes in twice a week now. Another volunteer, Joe Sergio, does much of the soldering on the stained glass. A number of other women parishioners also volunteer their time and skill to the project.

Mrs. Howell's contribution in teaching, designing and working along with the women is immeasurable. "We wouldn't have been able to do it without her," said Mrs. Pequignot.

Maryann Dotson mentioned a happy by-product of the volunteer work; the bond of friendship that has grown among the women. There is a gentle harmony in the studio, a sense that they share a strong, deep commitment to making something beautiful for God and His people in the parish community.

Laurene Howell gave them nicknames. Grace Lewis, at 70 the oldest working on the windows, is "Amazing"; Averee, the only native among the group is "Patience"; her daughter Ann "Perfection"; Ruth is "Charity; Maryann is "Faith"; and Maggie Smith is "Hope." And Laurene, the others said, "is 'Love' to put up with all this."

So, with amazing faith, love charity, patience, the women strove for perfection and created works of church art. Each window interprets a symbol of Christ in glowing colors: the Lamb, Dove, Chalice, Chi Ro (the Greek symbol for Christ), and the Wheat and the Grapes. The stained glass in the fire doors are the Crown and the Cross and the light of the world.

In creating the World window, the women found they were not happy with the colors. So, Mrs. Dotson said, "We destroyed the earth and rebuilt it with brighter colors."

The symbol of the Sacred Heart is the centerpiece for the window cross dominating the wall in back of the altar. Panels of aqua, gold, blue and white fan out from the heart. In the other windows and the two doors the same effect is achieved with rays of white, blue and purple extending from the central design.

The glowing windows enhance the small church. Prosaic hammered amber glass windows have been replaced with bright designs that welcome the sun and enrich the worship environment just as the great Rose Windows illuminate the massive stone cathedrals build in the Middle Ages.

Installation of the windows could have been costly. Not at Sacred Heart where the men were willing volunteers, working under the direction of Steve Smith, Maggie's husband. Sacred Heart is a parish of 150 families, about half of that number retired couples drawn to the area because of the lake, the pleasant old town and the well-cared farms where cotton is grown and beef cattle raised.

"The retired people who come here have talent and time," Father McCormick said. "As a group they would be quite talented. There are not many of them who do not do something" for the parish.

Mrs. Dotson estimates the total cost of the stained glass windows at $7,000 plus "millions of hours of work." Every cent of the money was raised by the women, who expect to get the remainder of needed funds from the church's Mayfair on May 2.

There was a lot of skepticism in the beginning, Mrs. Dotson said. "People just didn't think it was something we could accomplish."

But not the pastor. "I knew from the beginning that if the ladies set their mind to it, they would do it," Father McCormick said.