Faces of faith

Columbus teen expresses her faith by drawing portraits of city’s previous pastors

From left, Scott, Kenna and Mila Esposito pose with Judy Jackson on Feb. 7 at St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus after the unveiling and blessing of drawings that Mila created of priests who have served as pastors in Columbus since 1841. Jackson was a mentor for Mila in the creation of the drawings. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher

COLUMBUS—The Church has been present in Columbus for 184 years since St. Bartholomew Parish was founded in 1841.

Mila Esposito has only lived through the last 17 years of its storied history.

But because of a senior project she’s done at Columbus North High School, Mila has learned much about the parish in which she has grown up. In the process, she’s given her fellow parishioners the chance to ponder the faces of 27 priests who have served as pastor in Columbus in the past.

In her “Faces of Faith” project, Mila did pencil drawings of the faces of all the pastors except one—St. Bartholomew’s first pastor, Father Vincent Bacquelin, for whom there were no images for her to make a drawing from.

Visitors to St. Bartholomew’s parish hall can now view all of Mila’s drawings (including a silhouette of Father Bacquelin), where they are now displayed. The drawings were unveiled and blessed in a Feb. 7 ceremony at the Seymour Deanery faith community.

“It definitely strengthened my roots in St. Bartholomew,” said Mila. “While it’s been the parish I’ve grown up in, now I’ve contributed something to the parish as a whole and I know more about the history of it. So, it makes me feel more connected.”

Bringing the past into the present

That connection was also deepened with the help of longtime St. Bartholomew parishioner Judy Jackson, who served as a mentor for Mila during the project.

Jackson, 80, has lived her entire life as a member of St. Bartholomew and was able to help Mila learn more about the parish.

“It’s wonderful to see someone of her age to do something that will be around forever,” Jackson said. “When I’m gone and when she’s gone, it will still be here.”

“There are so many things that I didn’t know about St. Bartholomew that now I do know,” Mila said. “She told me several stories about the past of the parish and its history. It was cool to see how some of my drawings brought back memories for her.

“That’s something I’m looking forward to with the whole project. I know people will come and look at it. They’ll stand and reminisce with each other.”

One drawing that Mila completed but is not yet on display captures St. Bartholomew’s current pastor, Father Christopher Wadelton.

“I asked her to give me more hair,” said Father Wadelton with a laugh during the unveiling and blessing.

He later told The Criterion that “it’s heartwarming to see her passion for her faith. She’s got a deep faith. Seeing her develop that has been beautiful.”

Although St. Bartholomew has longtime members like Jackson, many others have joined the parish during the past few decades.

Some have come to work at Columbus’ principal employer, Cummins, Inc. A large number of Hispanic Catholics have also made Columbus their home during that time.

Jackson has observed the many changes in her parish community that have happened during her 80 years.

“St. Bartholomew is full of newer people,” she noted. “So, it’s wonderful that people will be able to see the history of the parish in this project.”

‘Talented in so many ways’

The Esposito family is one of those relative newcomers to St. Bartholomew. Scott and Kenna Esposito, Mila’s parents, moved to Columbus from their home near Detroit in 2007, when Scott began work as an engineer for Cummins.

Although she has two older brothers who recall the move, Mila has only known Columbus as her hometown and St. Bartholomew as her parish.

As she grew up in her family’s home in Bartholomew County, Mila often watched her father taking up a favorite hobby of his: drawing.

“I would be drawing things, and she would watch and want to do it. She started doing it early,” recalled Scott, noting that he began teaching her to draw “probably from the time she could hold a pencil.”

Scott and Kenna were proud parents on the day of the unveiling and blessing.

“It’s really neat that she’s using her talent and time for something for the Church,” said Kenna. “Her faith grew in researching these real people that gave their lives for the Church. That’s been neat to see.”

“She’s talented in so many ways, not just in art,” Scott added. “She has the world in front of her. It’s neat to watch her try to figure out what she should do.”

One of the things she’s considering is a possible vocation to religious life.

“What God wants for me will bring me the most happiness,” Mila explained. “So, I need to be open to whatever he wants for me. So, if he wants me to become a nun, I’ll be a nun.”

She will discern God’s vocation for her next fall as a student at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio, where she plans on double-majoring in theology and communications and minoring in Spanish.

‘Art for me is a way of prayer’

Mila’s project flowed from her faith, which her parents and the parish community at St. Bartholomew have nurtured in her from when she was very young.

“I would not know who I was without Jesus and without my faith,” Mila said. “I have all of my best friends because of my Catholic beliefs, all of my favorite subjects. All the things that I love stem from Catholicism.

“To be able to put my talents to use for the Church is kind of like a dream come true for me. I would never have thought that I could do something like that. I’m very grateful for the gift that God gave me to let me do that.”

Columbus North High School requires its seniors to work 20 hours on their project. Mila put in more than 50, spending around two hours on each drawing.

Some were difficult for her, such as the portrait of Father Peter Baron, who served as St. Bartholomew’s pastor from 1921-23.

“I redid his drawing so many times,” Mila said.

She said creating a faithful rendition of each priest’s eyes was challenging. At times, though, she found success in her first attempt, such as when she drew the eyes of Father Victor Schnell, St. Bartholomew’s pastor from 1873-85.

“I did his eyes, and it was like, ‘I’m never touching them again. They’re perfect,’ ” Mila recalled. “His eyes were so clear. It was amazing.”

Through it all, Mila wasn’t just creating portrait drawings of St. Bartholomew’s previous pastors: she was also praying.

“Art for me is a way of prayer,” Mila explained. “It’s so methodical and calming. It clears my mind to listen to God.”

In that prayer, she came to depend on God for help.

“I didn’t think I could do this project, and God totally got me through it,” Mila said. “I definitely think God directed my hands.”

Completing the Faces of Faith project has also helped Mila see how God has helped her through other people, both those living and those who go back to the earliest days of the Church in Columbus.

“My mother, my father, Judy and Father Chris were literally the best team that I could have imagined to help with this,” Mila said. “All I did was wield a pencil and eraser. They did everything else. It feels kind of wrong to say that it’s my project, because they all did so much to help with it.

“The project is a visual reminder of how faithful people have been. God’s servants have been here since 1841. You have a little bit more of a personal relationship when you draw them. These faces of faith have been part of our parish and still are.” †