Catholic church installs new stained glass windows

St. Edward's Church is graced by new stained glass windows depicting

the Garden of Eden.

New stained glass window tableau's now grace St. Edward's Catholic Church in Sisters.

The windows were installed on Friday, March 30.

"Over two years ago we asked various members of the parish to submit ideas for our stained glass windows," said Father Thomas Faucher in prepared release. "After a long process the idea which was clearly the best was to use the words of the Book of Genesis, Chapter 2, verses 8 and 9."

The windows represent the themes depicted in the passage that reads:

"Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He placed there the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the Tree Of Life in the middle of the garden, and the Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil. A river rises in Eden to water the garden."

According to Father Faucher, a parishioner from Salem obtained the name of stained glass artist David Schlicker of Portland. Schlicker took on the job of drawing the window, submitting the designs, adjusting and changing them, Faucher said. Finally just before Christmas 2000 the final designs were approved and the installation was scheduled to be done before Easter.

The north window, with Black Butte and Mount Jefferson in the background is the Tree of Life. The south window with the Three Sisters in the background is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

"This places our beloved area of Sisters squarely in the middle of the Garden of Eden!" Faucher noted.

It is a long tradition in the church that stained glass windows are gifts from various parish members, often in memory of those who have died, Faucher said. These windows carry on that tradition.

According to Faucher, the south window has four intentions: It is a gift from the Concannon family, a memorial to Barbara McConville, to Betty Fredricka Wood, and to Beatrice Marie Zarsky. The north window also has four intentions: It is a memorial to Pete Peterson, to Fran Thorn, to Gloria Buselli, daughter of Raymond and Peggy Buselli, and to John, Elizabeth, Noreen, and Richard McGuire the children of Harold and Mary McGuire.