As part of the Year with the Saints celebration in the Diocese of Burlington, staff members of Vermont Catholic magazine created a four-part series on church names. The last segment of the series is featured in this issue of the diocesan magazine.

Each issue has contained photos and interesting art and architecture facts about the featured churches as well as a biographical sketch of the saint (St. Luke, for example) or information about the church name (Holy Cross, for example). Art Director Mary-Margaret Carroll had the idea to feature the churches as part of the Year with the Saints. She wanted to highlight their art and architecture because, as she said, “churches should inspire reverence in our worship and should exemplify what we think of as heaven.”

She and Communication Manager Alayna Masker traveled throughout the Diocese, sometimes attending a daily Mass then meeting with pastors, parish staff members and parishioners to find out what made their churches unique. Among the features they found were a crypt at Holy Angels Church in St. Albans, a crutch from a boy who was healed of a leg injury at St. Andrew Church in Waterbury and a passageway in the reredos at St. Charles Church in Bellows Falls used to access statues for dusting.

Vermont Catholic Writer Kay Winchester provided information about the saints, feasts and other namesakes of the churches. Each church package was published in Vermont Catholic, on the diocesan website and on Facebook and Instagram before or on each particular feast day.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions associated with it, Carroll and Masker were not able to visit each church featured, so others stepped in to help. Among them were pastors and parish staff; the team expressed gratitude for this help during a difficult time.

“People like seeing their church” featured, Masker said.

Carroll hopes to replicate some of the art and architecture segments as churches make notable renovations or additions of significant items like statues, windows and relics.

—Originally published in the Winter 2020 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.