April, 2006

Visio Divina Philadelphia
By The Rev. Robert L. Tate

Trinity Parish, Wall Street, NYC, has provided The Episcopal Church and the Visual Arts (ECVA) with a grant to develop a “Visio Divina” program to lift up ways in which Episcopal parishes can involve the visual arts in parish life and programming. ECVA decided to begin the program in Philadelphia, where an active ECVA Chapter already exists, and then over three years, expand the program to other ECVA Chapters and to other dioceses.

Elizabeth Hoak Doering has been hired as the part-time project coordinator. A sculptor who teaches part-time in the Fine Arts Department at the University of Pennsylvania, Elizabeth is an Episcopalian who was the Artist-in-Residence at the Philadelphia Cathedral in 2003.

Visio Divina Philadelphia is off to an exciting start. The project began by documenting in word and image the ways in which several Philadelphia parishes were already employing the visual arts. 

The Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, undertook a “Year of the Artist” two years ago. A small group of artists worked with the parish Christian Formation Committee to sponsor a Lenten forum series on “Art and Faith”. They gathered artists in the parish to share their work and talk about the connections between their art and their faith. They also sponsored an exhibition in the parish hall where over fifty parishioners displayed their own artwork, some for the first time.

As part of a recent renovation of the altar and communion rails, a needlepoint project was undertaken at St. Martin’s that involved over seventy-five parishioners in crafting kneelers and many more in donating memorial funds. Their work is celebrated in a book, The Story of the St. Martin’s Needlepoint Project, which is available from the parish and ECVA. Visio Divina is now working with St. Martin’s to develop a new studio art program for the parish.

Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Healing Chapel		Needlepoint kneeler in the Healing Chapel, Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

St. Stephen’s Church, at 10th and Market Streets in downtown Philadelphia, has pioneered using computer graphics, visual clipart, and digital photography in their service leaflets. Employing computer graphic images and a large-scale color photocopier, they also make stunningly attractive posters and banners that hang outside the church calling attention to parish liturgies and programs. Their Rector, The Rev. Charles Flood, has a cottage industry producing ordination certificates for the Diocese of Pennsylvania using computer graphic calligraphy.

St. Stephen’s Church Baptismal Font		Charles Flood, Computer Calligrapher, St. Stephen’s Church

The Church of the Advocate, long known as a pilgrimage site where the first women priests in the Episcopal Church were ordained in 1974, now houses Arts Sanctuary, a program of African American music, art, dance, poetry, and drama. The inside of the nave is filled with murals by Walter Edmonds and Richard Watson depicting the history of African-American Christianity. Visio Divina hopes to work with Executive Director, Lorene Carey, to explore ways to integrate the visual arts into their work.

The Church of the Advocate with painting by W. Edmonds in the nave		Painting by W. Edmonds, The Church of the Advocate

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