Jesuit brother creates puppets that teach, entertain around world

Published: 2004-03-01

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CNS) -- In Brother Ed Sheehy's office, a fiddler plays on the roof, a graceful rollerblader glides by and a trapeze artist performs to the tune of "Stars and Stripes Forever." There's also a young Asian woman in traditional dress who is juggling a ball on her head as Blessed Mother Teresa counts her rosary beads and a man carries parcels home from the market. These figures represent just a few of the puppets Brother Sheehy has created over the years. Once a baker of bread, shaping loaves, he now shapes wood and cloth into puppets that teach and entertain around the world, from Guyana to Jersey City. "I haven't baked in 40 years," said Brother Sheehy, 70, whose hands come fully alive when they are animating a Ukrainian hand puppet or lovingly working the strings of a handcrafted marionette. In 1970, he went to Universal Studios and saw his first puppet show; today, he has dozens of string, rod and hand puppets that take up all of his time. "The rest of my life, I'm never going to have enough puppets," he said.

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