Father Edward Michael Catich
was an eagle in every sense of the word. He had a sharp eye and whit, a
dedication to his faith and service to God. He was a priest, artist,
and scholar. During the last year of his life on earth, I was fortunate
to be enrolled in his studio art program at St. Ambrose University.
Father Catich took me under his wing. Not only was he my teacher, but he
was also my priest and my friend at a time when I desperately needed
both.
In 1976 after graduating from Mt. St. Clare
College with an Associate of Arts degree I was awarded a significant
scholarship to St. Ambrose to study calligraphy and studio art with
Father Catich. I was afraid to start the program in the fall, so I
sought permission to delay my scholarship and moved to New York City to
be a mother's helper for a family.
In
addition to working for a family, I had also decided I wanted to study
with Paul Freeman from the Society of Scribes. I had only three lessons
with Paul, who was wonderfully kind, when he asked me quietly, "What the
hell are you doing in New York, so far away from your family, when you
live 45 minutes away from the old man of the brush, Catich?" His wife
was there with us that day-they were so nice to me. She served us tea
and cookies. The three of us talked at length about my fears of "not
making the grade." Paul convinced me to return to Iowa and pick up my
scholarship. It was not until I had known Father Catich for about 4
months that he told me he had received a concerned call from Paul the
year before about a young Iowa red-head who was lost in New York and
coming home soon to study with him. I was very touched.
When
I arrived at St. Ambrose in May of 1978 to meet Father and discuss
school, he looked at my calligraphy work and told me it was
midwest nothing,
but that we could fix that in time, and not to worry. He told me I
would need some books to study over the summer and he would get them for
me. He proceeded to one of the back/side walls of his large studio and
started to climb the metal shelving and pull down some books from the
top. I was terrified the entire shelf was going to come down on him! He
handed me
The Trajan Inscription in Rome,
The Origin of the Serif, and
Reed, Pen & Brush Alphabets.
I explained that I did not have any money to pay him for the books
right then. He said, "Not to worry, we will just make a record." He
walked to the studio door and wrote my name, the book titles, and the
amount on the door. He told me I could pay him when I had the money.
Father told me to go home and study and practice, and he would see me in
the fall.
It was not until after his death, when I was
helping to clean the studio and to catalog all of his books, that I
discovered that these very same shelves were bolted to the cement walls
of the studio!
Father Catich was an amazing artist. He
could draw letters and buildings upside down to stun both the lecture
hall audience and the students he was trying to teach in the classroom.
But he was always first, and foremost, a priest. His deep faith and
belief that Christ should always be kept amongst us in our hearts was
never more present that in his depictions of Christ in "everyday dress"
which caused him great difficulties with the powers that be in the
Catholic Church.
Below is a quote from the River Cities Reader, 2004:
"For instance, at the same time his iconic image
of a black Christ on the knee of a Latina Mary was displayed at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Time magazine was
reporting on Catich’s notoriety as an anti-traditionalist. Catich was
quoted as saying, “We must fashion a Christ who will be no stranger to
our time. ... I do not think it vulgar to suggest we give Christ a
shave and a haircut.” The Vatican was less than enthralled with
Catich’s crusade to portray “Christ in a T-shirt” and issued him a
monitum – a warning from the Pope."
Father Catich
was able to translate the stories of the Bible into everyday language.
This interpretation of the Biblical stories helped us to see how they
related to our own stories in present day, and how those stories could
help us to be better daughters, sons, fathers, mothers, brothers,
sisters, and friends to those around us.
Father also
believed that understanding the Bible within the context of present day
events would help us to be better artists and craftspersons as well. He
is quoted as saying,
"I suggest, therefore, that a basic principle of
religious art is that we must express religious truths in contemporary
terms...Christ should be portrayed as a member of our household and our
city, a person of our land and our language." He expected us to not
only be able to make letters with some skill, but to be able to
represent our world around us, interpreting the Biblical narrative with
modern day visual vocabulary, using pencil, watercolor brush, and pen.
At
the time of his death he had been planning another trip to Europe for
the Summer of 1979. He was taking his "3 girls" with him, Maureen
Long,
Amy Nielsen,
and me, to help with the creating of glass for a stained glass window
in Cologne and also to make more rubbings of the Trajan Inscription in
Rome. He was convinced that the pollution was eroding the inscription
even more than when he had made his second set of rubbings in
preparation for the
cast he made for Donnelley Publishing in the 1960's. (click on the previous phrase to see the cast) He also wanted each of us to have our own rubbing of the inscription.
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| Father Catich's Leica |
The last day I saw him, Maundy Thursday, 1979, we had
class in the morning and then I was to leave to return to my hometown,
Clinton, to pick up my husband and travel to a conference in Kansas with
him on Easter weekend. I kept forgetting items at the school-my
negative notebook in the darkroom, my watercolor board in the studio. I
ended up going back to the college 4 or more times that day. Each time I
had wonderful long conversations with Father. He kept trying to give me
money to pay for our plane tickets to Europe-we were getting them from
my travel agent in Clinton. That day he also gave me his Leica camera.
He wanted me to practice on my trip that weekend as he had asked me to
be the official photographer for our journey to Rome. We talked about
faith issues that day, about my family, and my hopes for teaching
someday. The last moments I saw him he was standing next to John Schmits
in his first floor office, talking, while John painted.
Returning
from the trip to Kansas we arrived in Ames, Iowa at a relative's home
to hear the phone ringing. It was for me. In the days before cell phones
were common, we had been out of touch for the entire weekend. My mother
was calling to inform me that Father had been found dead in his studio
on Saturday morning by his apprentice, and our good friend. Paul
Herrera. The next few days were a blur. The immense grief that we all
felt was overpowering as we prepared ourselves for the funeral. The
vigil in the chapel at St. Ambrose and the funeral the next day were
difficult and exhausting for us all. At each step of the way we were
reminded that Father Catich was our teacher, but he was first a priest
and a servant of Christ and the church.
Over the years I
have tried to understand why my time with Father Catich, this
relatively short period of time in my life, changed me so profoundly. It
has only been in the last few years that I realized it was due to the
transformative nature of prayer in our lives. Father reminded me often
of the need for prayer in my life. For me, making art work, either
calligraphy pieces, watercolors, or artist's books, are a form of
prayer. I feel compelled to tell my faith story in the objects I create
and to share the process of making, which are my prayers, with those
whom I come in contact with on the journey.
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| Maureen Long and Paul Herrera, 1979 St. Ambrose |
Recently I have been able to reconnect with my good friend from those days,
Paul Herrera. He and a group of former Catich students have formed
The Art Legacy League to honor the life and work of Father Catich. Paul is also completing work on a biography of Father Catich. As Father's
apprentice at the time of his death, and the person who found him in his
studio, Paul is the only person who can tell this incredible story of
Father Catich's life, his faith, and his dedication to his creative
soul.
Paul began a lecture tour across the United States and Canada two years ago to teach people about Father. He will be heading to Oregon this summer and to Boston in October to lead
The CATFISH Letter Arts School weekend workshop at
The Museum of Printing in North Andover, MA.
Father
Catich died 34 years ago, on April 14. In some ways he is
more alive to me now than he has ever been. As I work in my studio
making letters, preparing stone for cutting, and making artist's books, I
am reminded of his dedication to prayer as a central portion of both
his spiritual and creative life. He admonished us all in his last will
and testament about prayer, using the words of Tennyson:
"I have lived my life, and that which I have done
May He within Himself make pure! but thou,
If thou shouldst never see my face again,
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of..."
Pray for my Soul!
With
each breath I take, with each stroke I make, I continue to pray for his
soul, with grace and thanksgiving, that he touched my life so
completely. Each day in my studio when I sit in his chair (given to me
after his death) and look at his photo above my table, I am reminded
that God's power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or
imagine.
We
need only open our hearts and our minds to God each and every day, and
with the grace of God, all will be well, and all will be well, and with
the peace of God, all will be well.
To learn more about Father Catich, please check out
The Art Legacy League website and also the
Catich Digital Archives, St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa.
