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| Sunday, July 16, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Path to Peace Church installs labyrinth to help people meditate, pray By John Przybys
Review-Journal It could be a misshapen basketball court. Or a very tiny jogging path. Or an unfinished -- but really, really fancy -- tetherball court.
Actually, it's a labyrinth, a centuries-old aid to meditation and prayer that's found a home in the courtyard of St. Andrew's Catholic Community in Boulder City.
Labyrinths are mazelike, circular pathways laid out on the ground, either outdoors or, often, inside a church or cathedral.
The worshipper enters the labyrinth and walks slowly along its pathways, meditating, praying or simply concentrating on the journey to the labyrinth's center as he or she walks. Then, the walker retraces his or her path to slowly leave the labyrinth.
The effect can be profound and calming, says the Rev. Joseph Annese, pastor of St. Andrew's. However, he adds, a labyrinth isn't magic, nor is it a scary, forbidding maze a la "The Shining."
"I've been talking to people about this, and everybody looks for the lawn and the bushes," Annese says, smiling. "It's not a maze. A maze tries to trick you, but that is not the purpose (of a labyrinth).
"The purpose of this is just to walk slowly. You stop now and then and say a little prayer. Something can happen psychologically, and something may not happen. It's kind of like letting go and just walking."
While they've become popular among spiritual seekers of all stripes during the past several years, labyrinths are about 4,000 years old. And while they've long held a place in Christian devotion, they're a fixture of many, often ancient, spiritual belief systems.
"Christians use it," Annese notes, "but you don't have to be Christian to use it."
Annese walked his first labyrinth about three years ago in San Francisco. He admits that he didn't know quite what to expect, but describes the experience as "a peaceful kind of thing."
Intrigued, he read a book about labyrinths and attended a workshop in Chartres, France, where the cathedral there is home to, he says, "one of the most beautiful ones in the world.
"And, then, it kind of bit me, you know? The whole concept of it."
Last year, Annese organized a workshop at St. Andrew's at which about 70 parishioners learned about labyrinths and walked a portable labyrinth. But Annese concedes he didn't know how his parishioners would respond.
At first, most didn't know what it was all about, he says. "But I'm telling you, right after that (they said), `Where are we going to put ours?' Not, `Are we gonna have one?' but, `Where do we put ours?' "
An area in the church courtyard was designated for St. Andrew's labyrinth. Construction began last fall, and the final lighting and landscaping touches were completed last month.
Annese says he's delighted all of the work was done by volunteers and that all of the materials needed -- about $24,000 worth -- were donated.
"What's so beautiful about this is, it really belongs to the people," he says. "We have close to 940 volunteer man-hours here, and everything was donated. There wasn't one dollar (taken) from parish funds."
The volunteers started the project by pouring a flat concrete foundation. Then the curving, circular pathways were plotted out, and a saw was used to cut paths into the concrete. The pathways then were stained, sealed and finished, and lighting and landscaping was installed around it.
The finished labyrinth is 51 feet in diameter, vs. 40 feet at Chartres, Annese says. "Our intention wasn't to make it big, but to make it wheelchair compatible, so that just happens to be 51 feet.
"And it's classically styled. There are 11 paths, and (walkers) inevitably end up in the middle. They call the center the rose, and the petals they call caves. Sometimes, if you go to the one in Chartres, they have pillows there, and you can sit and meditate and pray."
The time it takes to walk into and out of the labyrinth varies, Annese notes. But, ideally, the walk should be unhurried and contemplative.
Other than that -- and a request that walkers remain quiet so as not to disturb others' thoughts, prayers and meditation -- "there's no wrong or right way to do it," Annese says. "You just follow the path.
"You can walk with someone in your mind -- maybe someone in your life who died, or a relative or something. Some people tell me they're in the middle of a divorce, and they're walking with that particular cross."
Some pray, some meditate, some simply relax and let the methodical pacing wash over them. "It's not a stuffy type of thing," Annese says. "It's what you make of it and what you want."
Similarly, walkers will exit the labyrinth with varying experiences. "I can share my experience, and it isn't necessarily going to be your experience or the next person's experience," Annese says.
Richard LaSovage already knows St. Andrew's labyrinth well. He was part of the volunteer corps that built it, and now, as the parish's groundskeeper, he'll maintain it.
LaSovage concedes he wasn't familiar with labyrinths when the parish's effort began, but recalls "it felt pretty good" when he walked it for the first time.
"It's peaceful," he says. "You can meditate either on your family, or a loved on, or someone who's deceased, or whatever you want to do out there."
LaSovage notes some parishioners already are becoming regulars at the labyrinth.
"I start work at 6 (a.m.), and there are already people doing it," he says. "So, of course, I don't go up there and bother them. I just do other things."
Annese says the labyrinth's dedication probably will be in September, but it's available for anyone to use. The parish has printed a brochure for first-timers that describes labyrinths and suggestions about how to walk one.
The lights on the labyrinth's perimeter remain on until about 10:30 p.m., Annese says, adding "it's just beautiful on evenings here."
But, Annese recommends with a smile, "the best time is 5 in the morning, just as the sun is beginning to creep over the mountains and birds are singing."
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The Rev. Joseph Annese, pastor of St. Andrew's Catholic Community, pauses in the center of the parish's new labyrinth.
Photo by Steve Andrascik.
Cheryl Erickson walks the recently completed labyrinth at St. Andrew's Catholic Community in Boulder City. Many find that slowly walking the labyrinth's winding circular pathway aids in prayer and meditation.
Photo by Steve Andrascik.
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