Thank you to the Jan and Barry Hortman Family for their help with decorating the Church for Christmas.  Thanks to Tammy Green for the photos.

Our patron, Saint Francis of Assisi.

Saint Francis is one of the most popular saints in the world.  His feast day is October 4. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady is the patroness of the Americas.  Her feast day is December 12.  She is a source of great comfort to many of our parishioners.

The Mother of the World's Children

Children from many lands are represented in this statue.  Our parish has folks from Asia, North and South America and Europe, so this is what our religious ed classes look like!

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

The devotion to the sacred heart of Jesus is attributed to several saints in the 11th century, especially St. Bernard of Clairveaux. This statue depicts Jesus with his heart visible, the focus on his heart  symbolizes His saving love. The feast is the Friday two weeks after Pentecost (19 days).  

Saint Joseph

This statue depicts St. Joseph, the carpenter. He has an ax and a piece of carved wood in his hands.  The feast of St. Joseph is March 19.

Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini

Mother Cabrini, a native of Italy, immigrated to the United States in 1889.  She became a naturalized citizen in 1909.  She worked among the immigrants to this country in the early parth of the 19th century, founding hospitals and orphanages.  We have chosen to honor her because she is the patronness of immigrants and she represents someone who lived in the 20th century.  Her feast day is November 13.

Our Lady of Grace

Mary is  full of grace. She is the mother who intercedes for us, and she brings down graces upon us. This statue features Mary standing on the dome of the sky with the snake under her feet.  May 31 is considered to be the feast day for Our Lady of Grace. This statue is placed in the Daily Mass Chapel.

From Left: Joe Hauzen, Gabe Torres and Jesse Torres (Under cross) put the corpus on the cross.  The corpus and cross were hand carved from the Demetz Studio in Italy.  They arrived Tuesday, January 3 in excellent condition.

Jim Bradley of R&O, our construction project manager, prepares to hang the crucifix.

The corpus is 8 ft tall from head to foot.  It is hand carved from lindenwood and hand painted. The cross is of wood, and is 16 ft long.  

(Scaffolding used to help hang the crucifix  is still in this frame.)

The crucifix was created in the Demetz Studio in Italy.  The curved arm of the cross was selected to match the barrel vault of the ceiling.  

The  design process and transportation here was facilitated by Mike Gerken of Gerken Religious Goods in Denver.

The crucifix, successfully hung with the efforts of Jim Bradley and others, can be seen against the backdrop of the mural.  The mural was handpainted for us by James McGee, art teacher at Juan Diego Catholic High School in Salt Lake.

We decided to revive an old tradition of having an altarpiece, a painting with a religious theme, behind the altar.  

The theme of our building project from the outset was journey, that we were all on a spiritual journey seeking God. When we commissioned the altarpiece, that was the direction we gave James McGee, the artist.  We wanted something that would represent that journey.

As Scripture tells us, salvation must be achieved through Christ,  through the way of the cross. So James has depicted a cross-section of folks on their journey.  The people span different historical time periods, different cultures, races, genders and ages.  Each is at a different stage in his or her own journey.  Some, like the business man in the lower right corner are having diffulties.  Others, such as the woman nearest the cross, seem serene and at peace.  The cross, suspended slightly above the painting,  is clearly the focal point of the painting.

While the picture wants us to recognize the universality of human spiritual journesy, there is also a local connection. The two moutains in the background are Timpanogos and Cascade, the mountains closest to the church. 

The painting is richly decorated with imagery and symbols that allude to scripture and Catholic traditions.  We wanted a mural that would provide food for spiritual reflection and meditation for years to come.

The artist, James McGee, is a native of Eastern United States. He is a member of the art faculty of Juan Diego Catholic High School in Salt Lake City.   The mural is the largest painting he has done. James has described the process as helping him realize his own spiritual journey.

These two stained glass windows flank the sanctuary platform on the east side of the church.  One panel depicts Jesus' triumpant entry into Jerusalem - the procession with palms.  The other is a rendering of the Last Supper.  It is an unusal rendering becuase the long axis is vertical rather than horizontal.  These were designed and constructed by the Rambusch Company of New Jersey, under the supervision of Martin Rambusch. 

The third stained glass window is in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. It was designed for us by Jeanne and David Gomm of Provo.  The images represent the Persons in the Holy Trinity connected by triquetras which are ancient trinitarian symbols.

The tarbernacle can just be seen in the lower right hand corner. 

Three of the sides of the Chapel contain little alcoves with benches so that one can do private adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

The Stations of the Cross were brought to Orem from the original church in Provo.  During their restoration by Firenze Restoration in Salt Lake, it was discovered that they had been fabricated in 1927 by a Chicago company.  The New Holland furniture company designed mahogany frames to fit around the stations.  One of the stations is shown here in its frame.

This photo shows the smug expression on the face of the man watching Jesus being nailed to the cross.

The statues are hung low enough on the wall that one can look at them from various perspectives. 

Father Jose, our Vicar Priest at the time, had no fear of heights and he climbed the scaffolding to shoot this picture that gives the view Jesus sees from the cross.

The east facade, north arcade and Blessed Sacrament Chapel exteriors.