St. John Neumann brings new color to church, chapel

Although the most accurate way to describe her relationship to St. John Neumann Catholic Church would be business partner, you wouldnt think it when you see members of a church committee shout out to Francesca Lofaro as she runs toward them for a hug Friday morning in front of the under-construction chapel.

It was the first time all summer that those who are working on renovations for the church ceiling and the chapel had seen Lofaro, who is the New York-based sales rep for the Italian company the church is working with.

The renovations have brought together a group of people, several of which have traveled to Texas from Italy for the installation and forged unlikely friendships.

Weve had a great time, said committee member and parishioner Lucille Lamy.

When well be finished, well be really sad, said Massimo Mellini, speaking in a thick Italian accent.

Mellini is the president of the Florence-based artglass and mosaics company that designed the churchs mosaic and the chapels stained glass. He has been in town to oversee the installation, and he and the church committee chat about the renovations more like old friends than business partners.

Its no surprise the St. John Neumann Arts and Environs committee has been working on these projects since 2007, researching everything from church decorative precedents to the individual designs, said Joanne Senn, who handles parish development. They paid for trips to Florence out of their own pockets to collaborate and see some of the results.

They are inexhaustible, Senn said. There is no amount of detail that can be researched; there is no amount of time that can be applied.

Its worth it for such a mammoth undertaking, committee members said. St. John Neumann is holding Mass in the churchs adjacent Holy Family center for the summer as workers begin decorating the once-gray ceiling of the churchs dome, one of the largest in the country, Senn said.

When parishioners return in the fall, theyll see four huge angels, one mosaic in each corner. If they look up, theyll see a Lamb of God mosaic at the center of the churchs dome. But the ceiling will eventually be covered entirely in a mosaic of small pieces of colorful glass, when the project is completed in the summer of 2016, church planners said.

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St. John Neumann brings new color to church, chapel