wfn.org | Creche display will highlight Anglican presence

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Kathryn McCormick
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99-178

Creche display will highlight Anglican presence during 
Bethlehem's millennium year

by Kathryn McCormick

     (ENS) There are nearly 80 of them, made of many 
different materials: rubber, marble or even silver. Every 
one of them portrays the tender scene--mother, father 
and child--at Jesus' birth 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, 
according to Gospel accounts. And all will make up one 
of the world's largest displays of creches when the 
Bethlehem Peace Museum opens in early January.
     This ambitious project was launched in 1996 by the 
Anglican Consultative Council, through the Compass Rose 
Society, as part of the Anglican Communion's contribution 
toward the renovation of Bethlehem in preparation for a 
year-long millennium celebration there. Working with 
planners funded by the Swedish government, the Anglican 
Communion will furnish the museum, located in Manger 
Square near the Church of the Nativity, which commemorates 
Jesus' birthplace. The creches have been collected over the 
past two years by bishops and their spouses around the world.
     "It has been such a satisfying project," said Barbara Payne, 
wife of Bishop Claude Payne of the Diocese of Texas. As the
 head collector of creches for the project, she sent letters to the 
wives of the primates who attended the Lambeth Conference in 
1998, seeking as wide a response as possible. She followed that 
this year with letters to the spouse of every bishop in the Anglican 
Communion.
     The idea was to collect one creche from each country in the 
Anglican Communion, she said. 

^From silver to ebony

     "We received so many, and they're so different from each 
other. One woman sent a sterling silver one from the Philippines, 
the creche from Uganda was made of hand-carved ebony, and 
a creche sent from England is peopled with characters from The 
Canterbury Tales," she stated.
     While all of the contributions have been welcome, Payne
said, some were more touching than others. "We received one 
from every country in the Episcopal Church," she noted. "Even 
Honduras, with all of its problems in recovering from Hurricane 
Mitch, shipped a creche along with someone who happened to 
be traveling to the Diocese of Texas." According to Payne, only 
three countries in the entire Anglican Communion declined to 
participate in the project.
     The Episcopal Church's contribution to the collection is a 
400-pound sculpture of the nativity, carved from a snow-white
 block of Colorado Yule marble. It is the creation of Joe Gangone, 
27-year old, Lakota Sioux and a full-time student at an art institute 
in Mission, South Dakota. The institute is part of Sinte Gliske 
University, on the nearby Rosebud Reservation.
     "When the spouses planning group met to think about an artist 
for the creche, the members agreed that they wanted a Native-
American artist," said Ann Robertson, wife of Bishop Creighton 
Robertson of South Dakota. "I talked with the art institute, whose 
instructors asked students if they would be interested. Four artists 
said they wanted to participate."
     Late last summer, the Robertsons and members of the community
 in Mission, met at the art institute to look at the finished pieces.
 "Actually, two were finished, and two others were not," said 
Mrs. Robertson. With the help of the instructors, she said, the 
group settled on the marble sculpture.

Held by eagle wings

     She said that Gangone began his project with sketches last April 
and worked steadily through the summer on the stone. The adult 
figures in the scene wear buffalo robes. They are in a stylized tipi 
with the child, who is held by eagle wings. Mrs. Robertson explained 
that Gangone had worked up to 14 hours per day during the hot prairie 
summer--so hot that a friend built a lean-to on the side of the institute 
building to provide a slightly cooler space in which to carve.
     An anonymous benefactor who has helped to support the institute, 
and who helped purchase the stone for all four creche projects, has said 
that he will see that all eventually will be sold, she said.
     All the creches were forwarded to Jerusalem for storage. There, 
Mary Page Jones, wife of Bishop Bob Jones, dean of St. George's 
College, found space at the school. The creches will soon be transferred 
to the museum building, which was  scheduled to be finished by December 6. 
A curator has been hired by the ACC to arrange the pieces for display. 
While the museum will be permanent, no decision has been made on how 
long the creches will be displayed, said Payne.
     About 2 million tourists are expected to visit Bethlehem next year. The 
town, whose residents number about 30,000, has undergone a $100-million 
renovation to accommodate the visitors.

--Kathryn McCormick is associate director of the Office of News and 
Information of the Episcopal Church.