By Paula Day

An outdoor altar and meditation garden built in memory of Charles Anthony and Laura Frances Luedtke was dedicated Aug. 5 on the grounds of Holy Spirit Church in northwest Atlanta.

Approximately 300 people, family members and friends, attended the blessing at which Father Edward Dillon, pastor, officiated.

The altar and garden were designed by architect Charles Luedtke and constructed by him, other family members and friends, as a memorial to his two adult children who were killed in an automobile accident, June 18, 1988.

“It was a labor of love for all,” Father Dillon commented. “In terms of the family it was a real catharsis - a way of literally working through their grief.” Luedtke and four other men worked each weekend of the past year to complete the project.

Materials for the 16 by 20-foot structure were donated by family members and friends. Luedtke, whose father was a stonemason, laid the stone for the retaining walls himself. The altar is a one-inch thick seamless slab of Tennessee stone. It and the lectern rest on stonework bases. A pitched cedar shake roof with skylight supported by wooden beams forms a canopy over the usually sun-dappled altar area. Statues of the two Luedtke children’s patron saints, Anthony of Padua and Francis of Assisi, stand on either side of the structure. The garden area, an estimated fourth of an acre, can accommodate approximately 150 people.

The altar will be used for outdoor liturgies at Easter sunrise and on the parish feast of Pentecost, according to Father Dillon. It is also an appropriate sacred setting for weddings, he noted.

In addition to beautifying the parish grounds and giving the parish community another facility to use for celebrations, Father Dillon believes Holy Spirit parishioners were inspired by the dedication of those working on the project and by seeing how “they pulled together in this situation.”

The Luedtkes have been members of Holy Spirit for more than ten years, Mary Catherine Luedtke said. They came to Atlanta from Milwaukee in 1973. She has taught journalism at St. Pius X High School since 1976. They have two other children, Anno Luedtke Hardage, 31, and Suzanne Luedtke, 30.