LONG VALLEY A few new faces that are greeting students returning to religious education classrooms this fall at St. Luke Parish here represent a spiritual blast from the distant past: striking portraits of 12 saints, including some Apostles, that are giving these young people silent — yet timeless — witness to the Gospel.
Emily Meehan, 18, a St. Luke parishioner, and a team of her talented friends, painted these 12 portraits in the traditional style of religious icons over the summer to complete her service project for her Gold Award — the highest honor a girl can earn in the Girl Scouts.
Each classroom at St. Luke’s displays one of the portraits, which will be rotated monthly so students are able to see all of them, said Meehan, a senior at West Morris Central High School in Chester.
To accompany the project, Meehan researched and created a teachers’ guide for classes of all ages. The booklet contains biographies on saints, including details about their witness to the faith; discussion questions for Confirmation classes based on the saints’ lives; prayers to each saint, coloring pages for younger students; and information about the canonization process for sainthood as well as much smaller images of the portraits on display, she said.
“One day, I was looking in the classrooms and thought that something was missing. Then the idea popped in my head,” said Meehan. She proposed the project last year to Father Owen Moran, pastor, who gave it his enthusiastic approval. “I like the final product. Now that I’ve completed the project, I feel that I have a better understanding of who each saint was and what each of them did,” she said. On the weekend of Aug. 21, Father Moran
formally accepted the paintings on behalf of
the parish; they were displayed in the church lobby for parishioners to see. The Apostles featured are St. Peter, St. Andrew, St. James the Greater, St. John, St. James the Less, St. Philip, St. Matthew, St. Bartholomew, St. Thomas,
St. Jude, St. Simon and St. Paul. Meehan started her research online for various styles of paintings of the saints throughout Church history, collaborating with Maureen Murtagh, St. Luke’s director of religious education. They settled on the style of the icon — a reverent yet stately rendering of the saint against a gold background.
“This past weekend, one student looked at the painting of St. Peter and said, ‘I have a kid on my soccer team named Peter.’ Another child looked at the picture of St. Matthew and remembered that Gospel reading that day was from Matthew. Another student looked at the portrait of St. John and said, ‘My dad’s name is John.’ ” Murtagh said. “Students are starting to make connections with the saints and their own lives,” she said.
Work on the portraits started this past summer when Meehan first traced her images on canvases from images of icons of the past, which were projected on a wall. She held two sessions outside her home where she and a team of artistic friends and friends of her brother, Chris, 16, painted while socially distancing. Later she researched and assembled the teachers’ guide.
The saints in the booklet include her favorite, St. Matthew, who was born 1 A.D. and died in 74. His feast day is Sept. 21. He is the patron of tax collectors and accountants. Jesus chose him as an Apostle because he “believed that he could connect with people of all kinds, especially the tax collectors since they were most hated at the time.” He is a saint because “he was trusted by the people,” Meehan writes in the booklet.
“St. Matthew is my favorite saint because he reminds me of my mom who works as a financial assistant at her job,” said Meehan who also told The Beacon that she found it interesting that St. John “died in exile of old age.”
Father Moran called Meehan a “wonderful young woman who is artistic and articulate. I loved the idea of the portraits. They look like icons. Our students are learning from the lives of people who look real. The young people ask, ‘Who are they?’ These saints are great people who had feet of clay but still said, ‘I want to make my mark.’ Our students then can say, ‘I want to be like them.’ ”
“The parishioners who saw the paintings on display said they looked great,” said Father Moran, who plans to use the portraits as part of teaching at Masses for religious education students later this year. “The teachers’ guide helps adults and children navigate who the saints were and what they can learn from them,” he said.
A faithful Mass attender, Meehan comes from a family that is involved in the parish. She has been an altar server and helped her mother, Jennifer, who serves as a catechist as well as a scheduler for Masses and as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. Her father, David serves as an usher and leads the parish’s baptismal program with his wife, Jennifer. Meehan’s siblings are Erin, 14, an altar server; Chris, an usher; and Dan, 5. In high school, Meehan participates in the band, choir and volleyball, she said.
“Faith — and prayer — have always been a part of my family and my life,” said Meehan, who submitted her paperwork for the Gold Award.
Looking at one of the paintings in a classroom, Murtagh said, “This was quite an undertaking. I am beyond thrilled and excited that these paintings were added to our classrooms. St. Luke’s will be able to share these portraits with our religious education families for many years to come.”