In Time for Christmas

NATIVITY RESTORATION  Father Jorge Rodriguez, pastor, and RoseAnn Juszcyk, who restored the Nativity set of St. Nicholas Parish in Passaic, with the statues.

PASSAIC  Christmas trees, snowmen decorations and bright lights all make the holiday season festive but for Catholics around the world, there is one display that reflects the true meaning of Christmas — the Nativity scene.

During Advent and beyond, churches in the Paterson Diocese are displaying scenes and statues to re-create the Nativity, which depicts the Holy Family at Jesus’ birth in a stable. Along with the Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, some parishes have statues depicting the Three Kings, angels, shepherds and barnyard animals to complete the scene.

While decorating the church last Advent, RoseAnn Juszcyk, a longtime parishioner of St. Nicholas Church here, noticed that the figures used in her parish’s Nativity had deteriorated over the years. Many pieces from the Nativity, which were all ceramic, were broken, cracked or missing.

Knowing the importance of the Nativity to help the faithful reflect upon the birth of Jesus, she offered to restore the Nativity statues at the parish.

With a background in the repair of ceramics, Juszcyk took on the task, which she began in February, to restore St. Nicholas’ Nativity set. It included the Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Three Kings, a shepherd and four sheep. She asked permission from Father Jorge Rodriguez, pastor of St. Nicholas and St. Mary parishes here and the parish council at St. Nicholas, to complete the project. It is believed that the Nativity set is the original one which has been used by the parish for all of its 148-year-old history.

“It was a privilege to work on these pieces this past year. It felt great knowing how the people of the parish were all supportive,” said Juszcyk. “To me, this was my way of sharing this talent God gave me back to my parish.”

For the past year, Juszcyk worked on the statues in a studio created in the basement of her home during her free time on evenings after work and during weekends. Each statue weighed close to 60 pounds and stood from 2 to 3 feet tall.

Laura Hamilton, a longtime friend and co-worker of Juszcyk, who is a parishioner at Our Lady of the Holy Angels in Little Falls, said, “She would tell us about this project and it was inspiring to hear about her dedication. She did this out of the goodness of her heart.”

Juszcyk , who has created many pieces of art, took extra special care with this set knowing its historical value and knowing that it would be used for generations to come at her parish. She took pictures of the figures to ensure that she could replicate the color and design of each piece and truly capture its original state. Some of the pieces repaired included a crown that had lost its points, and a king whose neck had broken; chips were also missing from the decorative attire of the statues.

The project helped bring back the beauty of the historic Nativity for the Passaic church, where Juszcyk ’s husband, Alan Juszcyk, has been a parishioner since his birth. The couple of Polish descent was married at the parish 29 years ago. Even with the changing demographic of mostly Hispanic families now, they have been faithfully continuing to attend Mass there and stay active in the parish’s events, both spiritual and social.

In addition to staying faithful and active in the parish, Juszcyk helped the parish financially with the Nativity restoration using her own supplies or purchasing other needed supplies. The Nativity restoration would have otherwise cost a significant amount if the parish had used a professional firm to restore the statues.

Father Rodriguez said, “The Nativity looks beautiful. For Catholics, the Nativity is an important tradition of the Church. It is the focus of what Christmas really means. I am so very grateful to RoseAnn for helping the parish restore its Nativity for this Christmas season for all to see and enjoy.”