Vandalized Lindenwold church on the mend
LINDENWOLD - Edward Byrne last saw the stained glass at St. Lawrence Church — now Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish and Shrine — in Lindenwold just before he left to serve in the Korean War.
Recently, though, the Bucks County, Pennsylvania, artist returned to the shrine on the White Horse Pike to help restore the glass he so skillfully created after it was damaged by an unknown vandal.
On Tuesday, James Darrah, a fellow artist who was once an apprentice at Byrne’s studio, was at the church repairing the windows, painstakingly placing delicate panes of colored and painted glass in between meticulously crafted metal leading.
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That wasn’t the only work being done at the shrine, however. Crews from Pennsauken-based Independent Alarm were installing surveillance cameras, with much of the equipment donated by HikVision, their supplier.
Matt Kerth, whose family owns Independent Alarm, said eight cameras were installed, four inside the church and four outside.
Pastor Joseph Capella told the Courier-Post in January the vandalism occurred when the shrine, then open throughout the day for anyone to worship, was empty. An unknown person came in and knocked over candleholders, hurling several of them through the windows, and damaging other items.
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“Whoever did this, this poor soul, must have been so angry,” Capella said in January.
Tuesday, the priest said he saw something good come from the act of anger.
“I’ve been amazed at how people who had no connection to this church still felt, well, some connection to us, to reach out and help us,” he said.
The 5,300-family parish is one of the largest in the Diocese of Camden, Capella said, with a substantial Hispanic population as well as a sizable Burmese community and several families from various African countries.
The church dates to 1958, while St. Lawrence Parish, which predates Our Lady of Guadalupe, has been in Lindenwold since 1896. Capella said he believes the church is one of only two shrines open for worship at any time in the diocese (the other, St. Padre Pio, is in Buena in Atlantic County).
Darrah, based outside Doylestown, Pennsylvania, has been working on each window individually, doing the glassblowing and metalwork himself while his wife, Anita, does the painting.
“I taught her how to paint, but she’s better at it than me,” he smiled.
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A stained glass artist for 44 years, Darrah explained the glass was hand-blown and “reamy,” with each piece unique with wrinkles and other characteristics.
“It’s not perfect,” he said.
“Each time I came back into the church, another piece of cardboard was gone,” Capella said.
He said he found Darrah because some older parishioners remembered Byrne, who created the glass for Msgr. Leon Winowicz, the pastor when St. Lawrence Church was built in the 1950s.
“I did some research online and found Mr. Byrne, who’s in his 80s now. I called him and he told me he knew someone who could do the work,” Capella recalled.
Still, he said, Byrne visited and took measurements before recommending Darrah.
Once the work is done — Capella hopes it will be complete next week — the church will rededicate the windows and reopen the shrine for all-day worship, something that’s been on hold since the vandal struck.
Lindenwold police said they are awaiting fingerprints from the New Jersey State Police lab and have no suspects in the vandalism.
Still, Capella takes a philosophical approach.
“It’s neat, because in terms of our liturgical season, this happened during Christmas and now it’s ending as we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension (which Catholics will mark Thursday), when Jesus was taken into Heaven,” he said.
“So really, it encompasses Jesus’ entire time on Earth.”
Phaedra Trethan: (856) 486-2417; ptrethan@gannettnj.com