MIDTOWN MANHATTAN — A new mural at St. Patrick’s Cathedral depicting immigrants of past and present makes a statement on the Church’s stance on the immigration issue, according to Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
“Some have asked me, ‘Are you trying to make a statement about immigration?’ Sure, we are,” he said. “Mainly, that immigrants are children of God.”
Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, made the comments during a Sept. 18 media preview of “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding,” a mural painted by artist Adam Cvijanovic. Media members were invited into the cathedral to get a look at the 25-foot-high mural before its official unveiling on Sept. 21.
Immigration has “always been important to the Church,” said Cardinal Dolan, which, he added, “seems to be a little bit under the limelight today.” The current “hyped-up controversy” over immigration makes the mural “a bit more relevant,” he added.
The mural is the largest permanent artwork ever commissioned in the 146-year history of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and depicts four sections and takes up three walls of the vestibule inside the cathedral’s entrance on Fifth Avenue and 50th Street.
In addition to paying tribute to immigrants, both past and present, it also offers the viewer a variety of different scenes — both religious and secular — including angels, prominent Catholics like St. Frances Cabrini and Dorothy Day, and the city’s first responders.
Cardinal Dolan noted that the mural was several years in the making. The idea to paint it in the vestibule grew out of a $175 million renovation of the cathedral that began 15 years ago.
“And at that time, we had some plans for this entrance off Fifth Avenue because it was very drab, very dark,” Cardinal Dolan said. “So, we thought at least we need to sparkle it up and get some illumination.”
Those plans eventually gave way to an idea for a mural.
It was initially planned to depict the Apparition at Knock, a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. John the Evangelist, the Lamb of God, and angels that was witnessed by dozens of townspeople in Knock in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1879.
The apparition took place the same year that St. Patrick’s Cathedral was consecrated.
Various panels of the mural feature depictions of the apparition, but Cvijanovic, who a committee selected to create the mural, expanded his vision to include tributes to New York’s police officers and firefighters as well as depictions of immigrants.
“And that seemed to me to be a really, really important thing to do,” Cvijanovic explained. “To talk about the people of the city all and to have it some place that people could go in New York and feel themselves recognized in the context of respect and hope,” Cvijanovic explained.
Father Enrique Salvo, the rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, said the new work is a welcome addition to the cathedral, which receives an estimated 6 million visitors a year.
“And of course, many are people that are just visitors to New York, tourists that want to see this beautiful, magnificent building and its history,” he admitted. “But our hope is that when people enter here, whether they’re coming for sightseeing or to pray, that everyone is moved by the love of God, and that everyone feels … truly welcome into this house of God.
“And so, this mural is such an inspiration for that.”