2002

14th March 2002
Church Windows Reflect Scientific Age in Light of Faith
After two years in the making Corpus Christi Parish Church in Waratah will have its new stained glass windows dedicated on Sunday 7 April 2002.

Fr Barry Tunks, Waratah's Parish Priest said, "the community's response to the completed work has been overwhelmingly positive. The Jubilee Window - a set of five leadlight windows in the eastern wall of the church - is striking and appropriate for a church entering the third millennium.

"The design of the windows", Fr Tunks explained, "accepts the challenges of our scientific age and reflects on them in the light of faith. Although the initial inspiration for the design came from a line in Teilhard de Chardin's Hymn to the Universe, it relies heavily on St Paul's idea of creation in an act of giving birth".

"In his meditation Hymn to the Universe Teilhard de Chardin, a French priest, philosopher, poet, paleontologist and scientist, reflects on the world of science and industry, and searches for depth of meaning, the presence of Christ and the place of the Church in our human activities", he said.

Local artist, Sr Dorothy Woodward RSJ, who designed the windows said: "they seek to convey the majesty, energy, vastness and dynamism of God's ongoing creation, and hint at the mystery of those aspects of creation we have yet to discover."

Fr Tunks said, "the Jubilee windows will enhance what is already a beautiful church. They invite us to raise our minds and hearts to the mystery of Christ, who is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the one to whom we all belong and in whom we are all sisters and brothers. May they be a source of joy and hope for all who see them."

When asked why the windows were created, Fr Tunks said: "The approaching Jubilee Year and the closing of BHP led to some thinking about the human endeavour that had created the city of Newcastle. The Parish Pastoral Council wanted in some way to commemorate that endeavour in the Jubilee Year.

"The consecration of Corpus Christi Church provided a unique opportunity to leave a fitting memorial to the joy of the Jubilee Year 2000 which celebrated 2000 years since the birth of Christ." The leadlight was cut and installed by Newcastle-based Ms Lee Howes of Crescent Leadlight.

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