St. John the Baptist Catholic Church gets help cleaning Catich slates

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Houghton, Iowa acquired a complete set of Stations of the Cross carved in slate by Father Edward Catich. He had originally cut them for his friend Father Edward Neuzil in Iowa City but they now reside at St. John's along with three larger slates; St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, and the Blessed Mother. Interesting note: the Stations were moved to Houghton on December 8, 2016 - exactly 78 years after the ordination of Father Catich.

A number of bats had moved into St. John's church earlier this year. They created a mess with the residue they left on the surface of the slates. The Art Legacy League was called in to clean the slates after the bats were removed from the church. Father Catich students Amy Nielsen and Paul Herrera, experienced inscription cutters, cleaned and sealed all seventeen slates. They applied a fresh seal to an additional Catich inscription of St. Sebastian, located in the church rectory.