Spencer parishioners praying for assistance to replace St. Jude statue
St. Jude the Apostle parishioners in Spencer were heartbroken last month when vandals damaged the statue of their patron saint. They are praying for help to raise $2,000 to restore it. Many members of the 120-household Bloomington Deanery parish are retired and live on a fixed income. St. Jude Parish recently received a $25,000 grant from the archdiocesan St. Francis Xavier Home Mission Fund to renovate the parish center so it is handicap-accessible. (Submitted photo)
By Mary Ann Wyand
Prayers to St. Jude the Apostle ask for all kinds of intercessory help because he is known as the patron saint of hopeless cases.
In recent weeks, St. Jude the Apostle parishioners in Spencer have sent lots of prayers heavenward to God and their patron saint with requests for financial assistance to repair the Vermont marble statue of St. Jude, which has graced a grotto on the parish grounds for 50 years.
During the night of Aug. 24, vandals pushed the 400-pound statue off its mortared base in the limestone grotto. The head was crushed when the statue fell about three feet. Restoration work will cost $2,000, the same amount as the parish’s insurance deductible.
“Everyone was just devastated,” Sandra Davies, the parish secretary, bookkeeper and groundskeeper, explained, when news spread quickly in the Spencer community.
“We are praying to St. Jude that people will care enough to want to help with the restoration costs for the statue,” Davies said. “The whole parish is praying about it. The grotto faces Hillside Avenue, and we see it every day. There is a terrible void with the statue gone. We’re looking forward to being able to restore it.”
Father Paul Dede, pastor of the 120-household parish in Owen County, said the desecration of the statue “was done by vandals who manifest not only their immaturity, but also their lack of respect for the faith traditions of others.
“This parish was founded in 1951 and the statue remained undisturbed for almost 50 years,” he said. “Donations are now being accepted for the restoration.”
Davies said stonecutter Mike Donham of Accent Limestone and Carving Inc. in Spencer will carve a new head to match the statue’s original appearance, coat the statue with a protective sealant and install a metal rod to better secure the statue to the base so it cannot be toppled again.
Davies said the statue has been “a cornerstone” of the Bloomington Deanery parish and “people would come from as far away as Chicago back in the 1950s and ‘60s to see the statue and pray here.”
In spite of their sorrow about the statue, she said, parishioners are thrilled with the handicap-accessible additions to the parish center installed by Renovations for Life from Whiteland that were made possible by a $25,000 grant from the archdiocesan St. Francis Xavier Home Mission Fund.
“We only have about 1 to 2 percent of Catholics in the community,” Davies said. “We’re a true home mission parish, and we’re very blessed here. We really are.”
Longtime St. Jude parishioner Meme Gillaspy of Spencer said she still feels “distressed” about the damage to the statue.
“I have my own little [prayer] card [to St. Jude] that I use very often,” Gillaspy said. “St. Jude knows what’s best, of course, and we have a young artisan, a master carver, who is going to do the job for us so we’re very pleased.”
When asked about the vandalism report, a spokesman for the Spencer Police Department told The Criterion that he and “a couple of the other guys” will be happy to donate money to help restore the statue.
Hope and help come from lots of amazing places.
(Tax-deductible donations to help St. Jude the Apostle Parish in Spencer restore the statue of their patron saint may be sent to the parish office in care of P.O. Box 317, Spencer, IN 47460.) †
