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(ANGELA CAVE PHOTOS) Workshop: “So what? Why It Matters that We Believe in God and Who That God Is” “It made me think about my own perceptions of God: Am I living to my full potential? I was going into it from a youth minis- ter’s point of view, but until you’ve looked into your own faith, you can’t really get there with oth- ers.” — Kathleen Curtin, St. Mary’s parish, Clinton Heights; youth minister at Holy Trinity and St. Michael’s, Cohoes SCHUMACHER MCGINN OTTAVIANO
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11May 26, 2011 TH E E VA NG E L I S T
BY ANGELA CAVES T A F F W R I T E R
Jim Moran’s blacksmithinghobby started four decades agowith a hair dryer, a hibachi grilland a handful of coal in hisDelmar backyard.
The makeshift forge he creat-ed evolved into a shed with a fullhearth and draft hood, and black-smithing turned into a passionfor Mr. Moran, a parishioner atSt. Thomas the Apostle Church.
Today, the retired environ-mental engineer is the residentblacksmith at Normanskill Farmin Albany, where he leadsdemonstrations for schoolchild-ren and community membersand takes requests for artworkand tools.
His most recent piece — across surrounded by leavesmade for the Albany Diocese’sSpring Enrichment gathering inmid-May — is just one exampleof his talent.
“It’s clay,” Mr. Moran said of thesteel and iron scraps he finds injunkyards, inherits from friendsor buys in stores. “I can make itinto whatever I want. That, tome, is the thrill of being a black-
smith: I can take a piece of metallying on the ground and turn itinto something useful.”
When he began the hobby, hiswife of 50 years, Maureen, wasjust happy he had an outlet forstress. “He could go out in thebackyard and beat out all hisfrustrations on a piece of metal,”she joked.
Mr. Moran has forged person-alized fireplace tools and chan-deliers, hooks and brackets, bird-feeders, coffin fixtures and evena lifelike snake he keeps in hiscar.
But his favorite subject seemsto be crosses: Different sizes andstyles hang on walls and gracetables in his house and in thehomes of friends and fellowparishioners. He recently hung aCeltic-influenced cross on thebrick exterior of the house.
Mrs. Moran noted that “a cou-ple of people have said, ‘That isperfect for your house. It epito-mizes what you and Jim areabout.’”
She describes her husband as“filled with faith” — especially ashe is her caregiver through theend stages of ovarian cancer.
“He is here. He is constant,”she said simply.
Mr. Moran, who tries to attendMass about three times a week,couches his faith in more subtleterms.
“I look upon the work some-times as my prayer,” he said ofblacksmithing, describing thecandle stands he made for hisparish. “If I’m fixing something atchurch — a broken pew or lights— then that’s my prayer.
“We are given gifts, and howwe use them is important.”
CROSS CREATOR
Blacksmith forges faith
AT LEFT, MR. MORAN AT WORK. Each month, he meets with a group of about 15 blacksmiths in Albany, training themon basics like lighting a fire and holding a hammer and complicated tasks like riveting and making tongs. Interest in the trade has resurfaced in recent years, he said. He attends international conferences for blacksmithingand enjoys meeting others like him when he vacations: “No matter where I go in the world, I find a blacksmith.”(Angela Cave photos)
‘I look upon the work sometimes as my prayer.’
Workshop: “So what? Why ItMatters that We Believe in Godand Who That God Is”
“It made me think about myown perceptions of God: Am I
living to myfull potential?I was goinginto it from ayouth minis-ter’s point ofview, but untilyou’ve lookedinto yourown faith, you
can’t really get there with oth-ers.” — Kathleen Curtin, St.Mary’s parish, Clinton Heights;youth minister at Holy Trinityand St. Michael’s, Cohoes
Workshop: “DigitalDiscipleship”
“It gave us a lot of good ideas.
We reallydon’t do any-thing comput-er-wise withthe kids. Wedon’t thinklike that.SpringEnrichmentalways givesme that push.” — JaimeKosowicz, Holy Trinity parish,Johnstown
Workshop: “Third Edition ofthe Roman Missal: SomethingOld is New Again”
[The speaker] “had an excel-lent presentation. She gaveinformation on what we are[currently] saying and what thechanges are going to be. It gaveme enough of the backgroundto be able to answer questions
parishionersmay have.” —ElizabethSchlesier,Christ OurLight parish,Loudonville
Workshop:“How Catho-lics Read the Bible”
“It gave me some more back-ground information and con-text. We looked at comparisonsof the fourGospels andhow theywere gearedtoward differ-ent audiences.It will make itmore mean-ingful whenI’m reading
the New Testament.” — PegSchumacher, Cathedral of theImmaculate Conception,Albany
Workshop:“Introductionto theLiturgicalYear”
“I didn’t real-ly have a goodunderstand-ing of whatthe liturgical year was. The pre-senter broke it down into theChristian year being a year withGod as its basis. The liturgicalyear really has no beginning orend. It’s in God’s time. I’m verytime-oriented. To realize thatthere are other time frames thatare not binding — it’s kind ofcomforting.” — Robert Ottavia-
no, Immaculate Conceptionparish, Glenville
Workshop: “Women of theHebrew Scriptures”
“Women get overlooked a lotwhen we think about Church.We’re mostly a patriarchal andhierarchical society. There are alot more women mentioned inthe Bible.Even thoughhistory is ‘his’story, womendid play a rolein theChurch.” — JRMcGinn,Christ OurLight parish,Loudonville
VIEWPOINTS
Spring Enrichment participants reflect on workshops
CURTIN
KOSOWICZ SCHLESIER
OTTAVIANO
SCHUMACHER
MCGINN
During last week’s Spring Enrichment gathering at The College of Saint Rose inAlbany, The Evangelist asked participants to talk about their favorite workshops. The
four-day event brought together religious educators from across the Albany Diocesefor courses on various aspects of faith.
(ANGELA CAVE PHOTOS)
THE SPRING ENRICHMENT CROSS