Edmonton: Beautiful Addition to St. John Bosco Church

By Ms. Joyce Labelle

(Edmonton, AB – September 6) – It was a dream, a vision expressed by Fr. Luc Lantagne, SDB, in 1996 to create a beautiful addition for this parish by way of a stained-glass window in our church. Fr. Luc saw this vision to bring a story to life. This new life would nurture, stimulate, and enhance all parishioners in their faith journey. Unfortunately, for several reasons, this dream was halted.

However, in 2022, through the blessings of our Lord, a renewal of this same dream emerged from a life-defining moment that Fr. Raja John experienced upon entering St. Francis Xavier Catholic Parish in Camrose with Dave Hearn. Through navigating different sources and through communications with Fr. Larry Pederson, our parish was encouraged to contact Andrew Florczak, an artisan from Toronto. Thus began an incredible journey to fulfill this dream.

The concept of the vision was pondered, formulated, and then sent to Andrew, who created a series of artistic renderings to depict the pulse of this new life: we began to see the signs of life growing. At first, it was just a simple pencil drawing; in time through the patience and skill of the artisan, the vision developed into a beautiful color rendering. It was truly an amazing transition to see how Andrew orchestrated the step-by-step process of creation of this new life. Thus, this allows us to see through the eyes of this artist a reflection of subtle reverence.

In the marvelous plans of our Lord, this transformation of simple lines to this beautiful vision was delivered to our parish and installed under the caring, watchful eyes of Fabio. This moment was filled with mixed emotions of anticipation, excitement, wonder, and thanksgiving! This vision, this dream of life that was seen by both Fr. Luc and Fr. Raja, has come to fruition and our prayers have truly been answered. It was blessed and unveiled by The Most Rev. Richard W. Smith, Archbishop of Edmonton on Saturday, August 26.