Keeping church statues in shape

A Ford retiree spends his time repairing the statues.

CLEVELAND (AP) — When St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church opened in 1892, it was filled with hundreds of sacred statues, ranging from life-size to miniature and standing freshly painted on pedestals throughout the grand sanctuary.

More than a century later, the same biblical cast of plaster characters still stands. But many of them are in disrepair, with chipped noses, fingers, knuckles and wings.

Fixing the West Side Cleveland church’s holy host of icons falls into the hands of Norbert Wallington, an 85-year-old parishioner who volunteers his self-taught carving and fix-it skills.

He has been restoring the church’s statuary since he retired in 1981 from Brook Park’s Ford Motor Co. plant, where he worked 30 years as a security guard.

The statues break over time, Wallington said, as people move them to clean and dust.

A life-size Jesus is missing a forearm and hand. St. Barbara has a couple of broken fingers. A kneeling angel is missing a chunk of wing. St. John Berchmans, patron saint of altar boys, was beheaded during a move.

“Yeah, he lost his head. Poor guy,” Wallington said.

On a recent day, dressed in a sweat shirt, blue jeans and a ball cap, Wallington worked in the church’s cold, quiet vestibule, giving St. Bernadette a couple of new epoxy fingers and a paint job. He planned to work next on the Jesus statue’s arm.

“I don’t know how it got broken off,” he said. “The caretaker said the arm was sitting in a box for 20 years. I’ve got it at home.”

Wallington has lived in the neighborhood around the church, at Scranton Road and Clark Avenue, for 62 years.

He has restored a life-size Crucifixion scene and rebuilt a 3-foot-high angel that was shattered when a small boy knocked it over one Sunday.

He gave new arms and wings to two big angels that flank the tabernacle. One got a new trumpet. Another got a new hand and a tambourine.

“As long as I’m here,” he said, “I’ll be keeping the statues looking the way they should.”

Wallington is unsure how many statues there are at St. Michael’s. Not even the Rev. James McCreight, the church’s pastor, knows.

“There are angels everywhere,” McCreight said. “You look around and there’s another one.”

A Plain Dealer story that ran when the church was dedicated Nov. 20, 1892, noted that “in every conceivable nook and corner are statues and statuettes.”

McCreight uses the statues as visual aids during sermons.

“You can point out the biblical stories,” he said. “There’s Isaac. There’s Melchizedek. There’s the wedding feast at Cana.”

In gratitude for all of Wallington’s work, the parish five years ago installed a plaque, “Restored by Norbert Wallington,” on the life-size Crucifixion scene.

“We’re really grateful we’ve got him,” parishioner Rosemarie Bell said. “He’s terrific. He really knows his work.”