Sunday, August 24, 2003

By Jill Cueni-Cohen

Equipped with no fewer than 10,000 bricks, several volunteers gathered Saturday behind the chapel at Kearns Spirituality Center in McCandless to re-create the labyrinth that Sister Marian Senish used to mow out of grass. "Getting the [brick] labyrinth built was one of our dreams," said Sister Agnes Raible, a sister of Divine Providence and co-director of Kearns. "It's a simple, nonthreatening way to get in touch with the spirit."

Created about six years ago by Sister Marian, the grass labyrinth was a transient summertime project that ultimately met its demise when the center built a new chapel two years ago.

"That was a different experience because it was all alive," recalled Sister Marian, who used to spend hours mowing and trimming the labyrinth. "When I would finish mowing, I would walk [the labyrinth] to relax and admire its beauty. Then I was refreshed."

However, maintaining a grass labyrinth had its disadvantages. "We had to change the location at different times, and one summer was particularly hard because we had a drought," she said. The grass path was finally destroyed by construction workers building the connecting road that separates the Divine Providence campus from UPMC Passavant.

"We'd made it a sacred space, and they drove through it with their tractors," said Sister Marian. "We did not like that. We needed to move it to a more permanent space, and for the last three summers we did not have it."

Instead, Sister Marian, director of Transfiguration House in Butler, rented a cloth replica to use indoors at Kearns for retreats, to make people aware of the labyrinth and to use it as a spiritual instrument in meditation.

Not to be confused with a maze, "the labyrinth is one of the oldest tools known to humankind for contemplation and transformation," Sister Agnes said. "When one walks the labyrinth from the outer edge, the path may go in and out, but it always leads to the center. Unlike a maze, there are no dead ends or tricks."

Labyrinths come in two styles.

The Cretan form, named after the Greek island of Crete, resembles a brain and consists of seven circuits to follow before reaching its center. As the oldest labyrinth blueprint, the Cretan form has been used for more than 3,500 years.

The Chartres labyrinth is named after the 13th century French cathedral in which it was originally created and is composed of 11 paths that curve around four quadrants of a circle. The distinctive Chartres style includes a six-petaled rosette at its center. The rose was an early Christian symbol of the Virgin Mary, Sister Marian said.

"The Chartres is more spiritual in nature," explained Sister Marian. "Each person does it their own way -- some try to get an answer from a dream they might have had by walking to the center and handing it over to God. It's a wonderful spiritual tool to become centered and balanced."

She added that the labyrinth can be both serious and fun. "Children love to run and skip through it, you can dance on it, and some people even crawl through it or sit at certain spots and wait. Some do it with music, and some prefer to hear only the sounds of nature. It's as creative as you can be."

Bill Anney, 80, of Shaler, designed both the grass version and the new brick labyrinth. Walking to and fro with his measurements in hand, Anney said the labyrinth will encompass 3,800 square feet, contain 18 1/2 rows and include 114 half-moon shapes he called "lunations" around the edge. "It's rather intricate," he said.

"I think this is wonderful," said the Rev. Deb Frantz, 39, of Ross, as she helped the labyrinth take shape, brick by brick. Frantz is leader of a group called The Miracle Circle of Pittsburgh, which meets at Kearns every Sunday. Volunteering to help build the labyrinth was a way for her group to give something back to Kearns, she said.

"Our group used to ... walk the grass labyrinth a few years ago," Frantz said. "It's a great way to get in touch with and remember the divine."

Constructing the labyrinth was a learning experience for 9-year-old Tavita Lio and his brother, Micah, 12, of Penn. "I've never seen [a labyrinth] before, but it's cool to build one," Tavita said.

Regular helpers at Kearns, the Lio brothers and their cousin, Christopher Marshall, 12, of Mars, were impressed with the project at hand. "I think it's turning out very well, and it's going to be really nice," added Micah before putting another brick in place.

The beauty of the labyrinth is that it can be used by absolutely anyone, Sister Agnes said. "Our center is Catholic, but we're open to people of all faiths, and the labyrinth will be accessible day and night to anyone who wants to walk it. You don't even have to come into the building."

She noted that the ancient labyrinth has recently been making a comeback, with labyrinths now being used at schools, hospitals, churches and even prisons. "We have a good working relationship with Passavant hospital and hope to make [the labyrinth] available to the families of their patients."

Organizers aren't certain when the labyrinth, built to coincide with Kearns' upcoming 20th anniversary, will be completed, but Sister Agnes said a dedication will be held soon.

Fund raising for the project began when Kris Rosenberg, a retreat leader at Kearns, donated money for bricks and supplies. Sister Marian estimates that the labyrinth will cost $15,000, and donations are still needed.

She will be working on the labyrinth project in her spare time. "It is a challenge, but I've always loved puzzles. The spiritual life is a puzzle, a mystery, and all the pieces eventually fit together, which is how I see the labyrinth."

She also hopes eventually to adorn the labyrinth with shrubs and flowers. "The design is flat, but we're using different colored bricks. In a maze, you get lost with the high walls. Here, there are no choices to make, you just stay on the path and get to the center, which is always in sight."

Labyrinth retreats will resume in the spring, and people can celebrate rituals, like the equinoxes, which is a labyrinth tradition.

Before putting the bricks in place, Sister Marian conducted a prayer session and directed volunteers to bury small personal items at the center of the circle. "We buried a symbol from Kearns -- one of those magnets you stick on the fridge with our phone number on it -- coins from other countries, a 2003 penny, and one person even put in a pearl. Then Bill put in a capsule filled with strands of hair from the members of his family."

Sister Marian said that while it resembles a time capsule, the goal is for the labyrinth to become a permanent part of Kearns. "I just wanted to have a ritual for the group who was starting it. They'll always know what's under there, and prayerfully, we'll not have to dig it up ... ever."

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