Mother Teresa School unveils statue honouring newly canonized saint

By Peggy Revell on November 24, 2017.

prevell@medicinehatnews.com @MHNprevell

Students walking the hallways of Mother Teresa School now have a life-sized reminder of the importance of service — especially toward the poor and sick — with the unveiling of a new statue of their school’s namesake.

“Because she’s praying, it’s like she’s looking out for us,” said principal Erika Bodnaruk, about sculpture of Mother Teresa officially unveiled at a Thursday dedication ceremony for the recently canonized saint.

Mother Teresa became Saint Teresa of Calcutta on Sept. 4, 2016. With sainthood, came a discussion by local Catholic trustees of how it should be celebrated, and if the local school’s name should be changed.

Ultimately, trustees chose to keep the school’s name as is — as Pope Francis said, she’ll always be ‘Mother’ Teresa.

But trustees still wanted to commemorate the canonization, so commissioned a sculpture from local artist Marina Cole of Chainsaw Spirit. Hatters may be familiar with Cole’s work around the city, where she’s transformed old trees and wood into carved sculptures.

For the school, Cole created a life-sized cedarwood sculpture of Mother Teresa.

“It’s just an absolute amazing carving of Saint Teresa of Calcutta. In my opinion, not only did she capture the likeness of Mother Teresa, but she captured the essence really of the joy of her spirit,” said board trustee and deacon Robert Risling. “She did a remarkable job. We’re so proud of her and the work she did.”

The sculpture will be placed in the front foyer of the school, so students, staff and all who visit will see it.

“I think having the statue in the building will just give us a constant reminder of how she’s here, and will constantly be praying for us,” said Bodnaruk, adding there’s a connection students have with Mother Teresa, because she’s a modern-day saint.

The liturgy for the ceremony was designed to help students understand the life of Mother Teresa, who “dedicated her life to the sick and the dying and the poorest of the poor,” said Jill Wilkinson, the board’s religious education co-ordinator.

It’s so when they walk by the sculpture, they’ll be reminded of who they could be, she said.

“We always look at our saints as people who became the best person they could possibly be, and we’re striving to do that as well.”

“It’s going to be put daily reminder of the joy to be a disciple of Christ,” said Risling. “The joy of serving, the joy of kneeling down before one another and serving one another.”

“That’s really key I think, as a Catholic Community, that servant leadership, that life comes through giving not receiving — and serving one another.”

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