Customized Easter Vigil Fire Feature for St. Lawrence Catholic Church

Fr. Jeff Shooner commissioned a customized version of the Phoenix + Flames Sculptural Fire Pit for St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Louisville, KY. The photo above is from the first ceremony in 2010. In his email, Fr. Shooner wrote:

I have been looking for something exactly like this. We are renovating our church and want a permanent outdoor fire pit to be used for the Easter Vigil. I am very interested in a 30″ Great Bowl O’ Fire pit that we would attach to a stone pedestal in an outdoor gathering/prayer area. I’d also possibly be interested in a custom piece.

The customization was to make a version without the phoenix to avoid any reference that could be construed as pagan. Once I agreed to do a version with only flame shapes, Fr. Shooner placed the order and wrote:

We are excited that we found you, that it is going to work out, and that we can have a true piece of artwork for our Easter Fire pit. Thank you for following your dream.

Mary Doris McCubbins, Coordinator of Ministries & Volunteers, later send me several photos and a few more details about how the church had incorporated the fire pit:

The fire pit is on permanent display. We have memorial pavers as a base. There are 7 rays that radiate away from the bowl made from marble blocks. The end of the rays (away from the bowl) are etched with one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We also have speakers in the area that can heated inside and outside the church. It is a wonderful space that we are very proud of!

The two images below are from Easter Vigil 2024. I found them on the church’s Facebook page here (there are pictures of the whole ceremony). I’m very pleased to see that the fire pit is still in use 14 years later!