COMMENTARY
Beloved Marist class leads to significant artwork One of the most popular electives at the Marist School in BrookhavCarol Niemi is a marketing consultant who lives on the Dunwoody-Sandy Springs line and en is Brendan writes about people whose lives inspire others. Contact her at worthknowingnow@gmail.com. Murphy’s “History and the Holocaust,” a class he’s been teaching for almost 30 years. A graduate of St. Pius High BY CAROL NIEMI School and Notre Dame “Bearing Witness,” which includes an anwhy the Catholic Church had stood to University, Murphy began teaching hisnual student trip to key Holocaust sites in the side during the Holocaust,” said Lyrtory at Marist in 1994. He soon found his Europe, a December memorial event duric Hoff. world history class left “about 12 minutes” Carol Niemi is a marketinging consultant lives on plant the Dunwoodywhichwho students daffodils as part Given that Marist is a Catholic school, to teach one of the most significant events Sandy Springs line and writes people whose lives inspireand an eveof theabout global Daffodil Project the class analyzes in depth the role of of the 20th Century, the Holocaust, others.during Contact her atning worthknowingnow@gmail.com. version of the class for adults. the Church in the persistent antisemiwhich the Nazis murdered approximateI contacted three students to find out tism of the past 2,000 years, as well as the ly 6 million Jews – two-thirds of the entire why they took the class and what they’ve Church’s efforts to make amends. Jewish population of Europe. gotten from it. Unexpectedly, this topic led to anoth“I felt the history of the Holocaust de“It’s very important to know why the er expansion of “Bearing Witness” – the manded further study and proposed an Holocaust happened so it will never hapacquisition of a significant work of art, a elective on the topic. It went on the curpen again,” said Lake Degitz. large cast-bronze sculpture recently inriculum at the start of my third year,” he “My biggest takeaway from this class stalled on campus to symbolize these efsaid. is that anti-Semitism existed many years forts. The first time the class was offered, before the Holocaust started,” said Layne Called “Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our only 12 to 15 students signed up. Now, it’s so Sherman. Time,” the sculpture is an enlightened repopular it forms the bulk of his work. He “Before the class, I hadn’t understood interpretation of the statues called “Echas also added meaningful action called
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18 DECEMBER 2021| REPORTER NEWSPAPERS
clesia and Synagoga” that adorned Medieval European churches and affected attitudes into modern times. Shown traditionally as a pair of graceful young women, Ecclesia, representing the Church, was crowned, serene and victorious, while Synagoga, representing the Jewish people, was blindfolded, sad and defeated. The rest of the sculpture’s title comes from the Nostra Aetate (In Our Time), a declaration signed in 1965 at Vatican II, stating that the Church “rejects nothing that is true and holy” in other religions and specifically rejects the common teaching that the Jews were guilty of deicide. Marist’s acquisition of the sculpture began in the fall of 2015, when Murphy read that Pope Francis had come to St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia to bless a new bronze sculpture that reinterprets the ancient symbols of Ecclesia and Synagoga. He called the sculptor, Joshua Koffman, and asked if he would consider creating a second one for Marist. He said he would. “I marched right into Father Roland’s office and pitched the statue,” said Murphy. “I gave a 20-minute presentation on these two female figures, how the new depiction is so powerful. The new work takes a terrible past and reimagines a better future. He was sold right away.” It took a full six years for the school to raise the funds and Koffman to create the final work he calls a “monument.” At a ceremony involving leaders from both the Catholic and Jewish communities of metro Atlanta, the sculpture “Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time” was unveiled on Oct. 13. The school website says its purpose is to “inspire current and future generations of students to live a life of friendship with the Jewish people.” The sculpture shows two equally serene and beautiful young women, Synagoga on the left and Ecclesia on the right, facing each other, holding their sacred texts. The effect on a viewer is so profound it defies words, yet the meaning is clear in a way only art can convey. The paradox of the Holocaust is “the more you study it, the less you understand it,” said Murphy. “The thing that gives us forward motion is art.” Like all great art, the sculpture will leave a different impression on all who see it. I must agree with Brendan Murphy that its ultimate message is of hope for a better world of understanding, peace and love. To see a video about the sculpture, go to https://vimeo.com/maristschool/review/631298742/f6b2f8bce6.
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