Friday, October 30, 2009

Who moved my OLOM?

NOT TO GET OUR BLOOMERS ALL IN A TWIST, but that beautiful, hand-carved statue of Our Lady of Maryknoll that has graced the Spellman Room for a little over a month has been moved—temporarily—to make room for a wonderful exhibit of the natural sculptures by Sr. Marie Pierre Semler, M.M.

Ms. Nancy Kleppel, center coordinator, made the request to move the statue on behalf of the exhibit organizers. She made the request to me, who really have no authority to say where the statue goes, except I was the one who lobbied for six months to put it in its present location and I guess top the list of people who would theoretically get upset if it were moved.

While I thought it added a dignified focal point to the exhibit itself, the organizers felt otherwise. The clincher for their argument, offered by Nancy, was: that's why it was put on casters, to allow mobility if the Spellman Room were needed for activities. So a quick appraisal of alternative fung shui showed the space inside the main chapel, on the other side of the folding panels to the Spellman Room and facing the Eucharistic Chapel, to be the least disruptive yet still dignified place of temporary exile.

And while I am grousing, why is it taking four weeks to get the extra spotlight installed to illuminate said statue of OLOM in its now vacated location? Fr. Ernie Lukaschek put in the request in early October. Ms. Nancy Kleppel said she would look into it with Physical Plant. That might be a fair trade for allowing the statue to be moved. Let's hope when the exhibit finishes in two weeks Our Lady of Maryknoll will be re-transported to its properly spot-lit location in the Spellman Room.

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