TEXARKANA — On a recent sunny Sunday afternoon, St. Edward Church opened its doors to anyone in Texarkana interested in viewing the beauty of the church’s interior.
St. Edward was one of the churches included in a guided tour of Texarkana’s five historic downtown churches. The tour, called “Stained-Glass Christmas,” enriched the Advent and Christmas season for everyone who attended — and a lot of people took the tour. Father Paul Worm, pastor of St. Edward, said he was surprised and pleased at the large crowd that filled St. Edward.
Each church provided Advent and Christmas music as well as explanations of their stained-glass windows and other unique church features. Each church also provided a little of its history.
At St. Edward, Linda Robertson, adult formation director, told the reverent onlookers that the church’s first Mass was celebrated in 1903, and that the current building was built in 1923. She said the church was designed after Most Holy Trinity Church in Rome.
“The stained-glass windows were shipped from Germany in crates and all are original except for a few that were added during a recent renovation of the church,” she said. “It is said that the windows were manufactured by a company called Frei and that they are irreplaceable.”
She pointed out other features of the church, such as its classic statues as well as its altars and communion rail, are made of marble and shipped from Italy. She also singled out the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe and told the miraculous story of St. Juan Diego and his miracle.
Then parishioner Justin Howard drew attention to several of the church’s windows, including the stained-glass window above the main altar, which depicts symbols and signs of the seven sacraments. He also showed the crowd windows on each side of the nave, one depicting the birth of Christ and the other the birth of John the Baptist. Howard said, “The Birth of Jesus window is one of the most beautiful windows in the church. One Christmas, Bishop (J. Peter) Sartain used the window for his Christmas cards.”
Parishioners Joe Redden, Scott Kennedy and Kim Kennedy told about the windows on each side of the congregation, which follow the lives of Jesus and Mary. Michelle Karam and her choir enhanced the listeners’ Christmas spirit by performing Advent and Christmas music.
Other churches on the tour included St. James Episcopal, First United Methodist, Beech Street First Baptist and First Presbyterian. At First Methodist, Emily Hoover, a high school junior and a member of that church, was introduced. She had conceived the idea for the tour as a school project and had asked the Rev. Vicky Stephens, associate pastor, to assist her in organizing the tour. Before the event took place, Hoover wrote a letter to Father Worm, saying, “Each church offers unique and beautiful stained glass, rich in historic value. A guided tour of each church’s sanctuary, with traditional music, will be a perfect mixture of historic beauty and musical customs, offered free to the community.”
Hoover was right. The tour was so successful that everyone agreed it should become a yearly event.
