February 25, 2011

Inspiration leads to creation of Mother Theodore icon

Paul Lunsford, the president of St. Theodore Guérin High School in Noblesville, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese, right, talks about an icon of St. Theodora Guérin that the school presented to the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Shown with Lunsford are, from left, Providence Sister Denise Wilkinson, the general superior of the order, and the general officers, Providence Sisters Paula Damiano, Marie McCarthy, Jane Marie Osterholt and Nancy Reynolds. (Submitted photo)

Paul Lunsford, the president of St. Theodore Guérin High School in Noblesville, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese, right, talks about an icon of St. Theodora Guérin that the school presented to the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Shown with Lunsford are, from left, Providence Sister Denise Wilkinson, the general superior of the order, and the general officers, Providence Sisters Paula Damiano, Marie McCarthy, Jane Marie Osterholt and Nancy Reynolds. (Submitted photo)

Special to The Criterion

ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS—Paul Lundsford, the president of St. Theodore Guérin High School in Noblesville, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese, was enjoying an intense, private time of prayer when he felt a call to have a religious icon created to honor the school’s namesake, St. Theodora Guérin, the foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods and co-patroness of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

He walked into the office of Father Dale Ehrman, the vicar for Catholic Mission at the school, who was having a conversation with Jan Storms, an artist from Minneapolis. She was discerning whether she should become a full-time iconographer.

Lundsford apologized for interrupting the conversation, and asked Father Ehrman if the school could commission an icon.

“An icon of whom?” Father Ehrman asked.

“Of Mother Theodore, of course,” Lundsford responded.

“Father Dale started laughing. Jan started crying,” Lundsford said on Feb. 14, the day the icon was presented to the Sisters of Providence during a Mass in St. Joseph Chapel on the campus of their motherhouse at St. Mary-of-the-Woods. Father Ehrman blessed the icon during the liturgy.

Providence Sister Denise Wilkinson, the general superior of the Sisters of Providence, expressed her community’s gratitude for the icon.

“We know that Mother Theodore has a special presence for the students, faculty and staff at the school. We are touched by their generosity.”

Speaking at the end of the Mass, Lundsford talked about the “powerful presence” that Mother Theodore has in the school’s hallways.

“We thank you for giving her to us,” he said.

Several representatives of St. Theodore Guérin High School and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College also attended the Mass and blessing.

(For more information on St. Theodora Guérin, log on to www.archindy.org/guerin.)

Local site Links: