Church groups give their ministries handmade touch
The knitting ministry at St. Gregory’s has made hundreds of prayer shawls, blankets, scarves and hats to donate to people in need (below). BACK (l-r): Mary Lintz, Anne Hilmer, Susamma Cherian and Lynnann Bertolino. FRONT: Connie Jones and Liz Muir. Photo provided
By Janis Fontaine
Gathered around a small table in the St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church library in Boca Raton, seven women are knitting prayer shawls and catching up on each other’s lives. The conversation bounces from one topic to another like a pinball, but in every single stitch is a prayer for the recipient.
The prayer shawl ministry at St. Gregory’s meets once a month and has been at work for 20 years. The group has made hundreds of prayer shawls, lap blankets, baby blankets, scarves and hats of all sizes.
They call these groups “prayer shawl ministries,” not to be confused with the Jewish shawls worn by rabbis during prayer. These shawls are given to people who are suffering an illness or a loss, or who just need some love and comfort.
Mary Lintz sees the shawls as colorful signs of God’s grace and the love of the church family expressed in a garment. Every inch is infused with the healing spirit of the Lord.
Most of the work is done at home — in private, quiet moments — where the only sound is the reassuring click-click-click of needles.
While they work, the women think about their own walks with God and pray for the well-being of the recipient of each shawl. These are simple prayers that ask that the person find comfort in the gift. Once completed, every shawl is blessed by one of the priests, who say the gifts provide recipients and their families with tangible proof that someone cares about them.
Each piece is different and finds its way to the right person. When the Rev. Andrew Sherman pops his head in the door to say hello and offer words of thanks and encouragement, he says, “You can feel the creativity flowing here!”
Father Sherman tells the women how important their small acts are. When he delivers the shawls, he says, “People burst into tears. It makes a profound impact.”
The women are also preserving the art of handmade items. Their work is popular — the recipients and their families treasure these pieces, and the women get a lot of requests from family members to make items — but they can’t seem to get younger people interested in learning the craft.
Some of the women learned the craft from their mothers or grandmothers but Lintz, who crochets, taught herself by watching YouTube videos during the COVID-19 pandemic. An enthusiastic recruiter for the ministry, she likes to make shawls with pockets.
One of the first questions she asks is, do you knit or crochet?
Beginners are certainly welcome, and the women would love to teach anyone interested.
Most shawls and blankets are small and square and use basic stitches, like double crochet or the Trinity stitch. Sometimes called a cluster stitch or raspberry stitch, this puffy stitch has clumps of three stitches that form little buds. It uses a knit 3-purl 3 pattern; therefore, the trinity.
Susamma Cherian, 87, who is Father Sherman’s mother-in-law, keeps an eye on the inventory of shawls, which are made mostly from donated yarn. “We never run out,” she says.
The women are meticulous in their work, willing to rip out rows of stitches to fix a mistake. It’s not perfection they’re after — the flaws are then part of the personality of a handmade piece — but the women still want to produce their best and they have a natural patience that artists and craftsmen must have.
Most of the women live in Boca Raton, but Anne Hilmer drives 45 minutes from Fort Lauderdale to attend St. Gregory’s. She tried other churches, “but none of them felt right.” The drive is worth it, she says, to spend time with women she feels truly connected to.
St. Paul’s knitters
At St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach, Charmaine Bennett, a retired RN, loves the peace that comes from crocheting. As she works her fingers to control the hook and yarn, her mind is somewhere else. Muscle memory takes over. She’s done this double-crochet stitch a million times and she’ll likely do it a million more.
Bennett, 70, has been a member of St. Paul’s since 2011. When she relocated from New York, she looked around for a church before she found St. Paul’s.
“I felt comfortable here. The people were kind. I felt a lot of love,” she says.
After she retired about two years ago, she joined the knitting ministry. She and Barbara Clifford are the core of the group, which is shrinking in numbers.
Bennett understands it’s hard to get involved.
“People are so busy,” she says. “It’s not easy to find the time.”
Right now, the ministry meets on Tuesday mornings and that’s just not a good time for women who are still working. “We’re actively trying to recruit new members,” Bennett says.
Once shawls are completed, they are given to priests to be blessed. Then they find homes with those needing comfort: people facing chemotherapy or surgery, people who are sick or who are grieving the loss of a loved one, or a shut-in. “We want them to feel wrapped in love and prayer,” Bennett says.
One parishioner whose wife was given a shawl when she was ill told Clifford that he finds comfort in that same softness himself now that she has passed, so that shawl has blessed two people.
The group shares ideas, stories and accomplishments, meaning the camaraderie of the ministry is one of the best parts, the women say. Feeling connected to others with common interests is important to combating loneliness.
Other benefits accrue to the makers of the handmade items. In a story on marthastewart.com in August, experts said knitting was useful in “reducing stress by helping your body enter a relaxing state, boosting your overall mood, and engaging multiple parts of your brain simultaneously to promote cognitive function.”
Bennett, who learned to crochet doilies from her aunt when she was young, agrees: “It really helps the mind.”
Bennett spends about four hours a week working on her pieces. She prays before she begins. “It’s a way to express that I care for them when they are going through these tough times,” she says of the intended recipients.
Clifford says: “It means a lot that we can provide a little love, comfort and support.” And at her age 87, “it’s a good excuse to sit down.”
Janis Fontaine writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Contact her at fontaine423@outlook.com
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