THERE’S A WIZARD (wizardress?) behind the curtains. Three, actually.
For the past 30 years, Lynn Hearn, Nancy Minear and Dorothy Turley have worked behind the scenes at St. Bonaventure Catholic Parish, creating, hanging and draping the elegant banners and altar cloths that frame the sanctuary area at the church in Huntington Beach.
Without fanfare, they have helped bring color, context and pictorial storytelling to Sunday Masses and notable events at the parish. Their hangings can also be seen during the Catholic seasons of Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, Easter (with two banners) and special occasions such as Pentecost and the feast of Christ the King.
“We think in terms of settings for the season,” said Hearn, who is also the head of adult education at the parish.
While trimmings and decorations such as banners may seem like only a backdrop and may even go unnoticed by some, they are an important part of the service, adding to the fullness of the liturgical experience.
Completing each other’s thoughts in the way only those who have spent decades as friends can, Hearn and Minear have simple explanations for the purposes their work provides.
“They help to encourage prayer,” said Hearn.
“To help parishioners deepen reverence,” Minear added.
Fr. Oliver Coughlin, the parish’s parochial vicar since July, is only beginning to realize the depth of the contributions of the pair.
“They do so much of the parish in season and out of season,” he said. “They make the sanctuary inviting and beautiful. They draw the parish into deeper worship.”
SEAMSTRESS’ WORKSHOP
Most afternoons, Hearn and Minear can be found in a parish center room quietly working at their craft as they sew by hand and machine. Turley, the grand dame at 93, pitches in when she is up to the task.
“We try to work on it every day,” Hearn said, estimating it takes about 60 hours to complete a project.
Typically, before launching a project, the pair will spitball ideas and concepts, while sketching and sharing design ideas.
Minear said she wants the banners and altar cloths to tell a story or fit in with the theme of seasons and events.
“We’ll do drawings and then it’s on to the Wonder-Under,” she said.
LYNN HEARN AND NANCY MINEAR ARE JOINED BY FR. OLIVER COUGHLIN AT ST. BONAVENTURE CATHOLIC CHURCH. PHOTOS BY ALEN WENDELL/DIOCESE OF ORANGE
The women hang the fabric on a window and affix the paper-backed, iron-on adhesive web product on which they build and attach their designs.
On a recent weekday, Hearn and Minear were at work putting the final touches on a vibrant, deep purple banner ringed with a crown of thorns to be unveiled on Ash Wednesday. Hearn said it takes about 10 yards of fabric to create the curtains and altar covering. She spends a lot of her free time “fabric hunting” online and in person to find the right material. It must be high-quality, fire-resistant fabric at a good price. Usually, the church pays for the fabric, although Hearn donated the pricey $40-per-yard drapery for the newest piece.
The schedule for the Ash Wednesday banners portended a late night to come. The Vietnamese community concluded its Tết — Vietnamese New Year — festivities on Tuesday night and had cultural decorations up until then. Coincidentally, Hearn and Minear pitched in on the Vietnamese decor as well.
Both women downplay their contributions, saying the main attribute needed for what they do is, “the ability to sit and be patient,” Hearn said. “We just do the grunt work.”
Although they could always use the help, hand-sewing has become an almost forgotten art and craft.
LYNN HEARN AND NANCY MINEAR SHOW FR. VINCENT PHAM THE PROGRESS ON THE NEW BANNER FOR LENT AT ST. BONAVENTURE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Hearn and Minear began their drape work about 30 years ago, when Fr. Mike Heher, who did the banners at the time, asked for help. Soon helping out became taking over and they’ve been at it ever since. When the church underwent a $7.9 million renovation and rehabilitation in 2018, it included repositioning the altar and sanctuary. That required Hearn and Minear to cut down a number of their existing banners which had been created for a much higher ceiling.
“It broke our hearts to cut it down,” Hearn said.
The silver lining, so to speak, is that the church found a Catholic charity in Mexico that was able to repurpose the fabric into quilts for the needy.
BEYOND CRAFTING
Banners are not all the pair have contributed to the arts at St. Bonaventure.
“We’re artists, we draw and paint,” said Minear, who enjoys working in oils, pencil and watercolors.
Hearn is a particular fan of watercolors and painting landscapes outdoors.
For years, the two contributed to large murals for the parish’s fall festival. They also enjoy painting Paschal and baptismal candles. Their work is impressive enough that Bishop Kevin Vann offered to commission a pair of oil paintings for himself of the Vietnamese Martyrs and St. Juan Diego, which, of course, the women donated.
Asked how long they can keep up their seam stitching ambitions, neither has plans to slow down.
“We’ve decided to go until we’re 90,” Hearn joked. “That’s to say we’re not going to stop.”
“Then we’ll continue in Heaven,” Minear added.