From the incensing of Holy Oils and Washing of Feet on Holy Thursday to the beautiful rites of the Easter Vigil at Holy Cross, one liturgical minister has been a constant for the past several decades. Patricia Shubeck, a parishioner for nearly half a century, has offered her gifts of art and dance to the worship life of our church all these years, her model of prayer and grace in movement touching and inspiring nearly three generations of families at Holy Cross.
Her introduction to dance at the tender age of two-and-a-half was considered a necessity by her mother, Alice. It's hard to believe now, but Patricia was born with TEV, a foot abnormality commonly called clubfoot. Both feet were affected, and Alice's persistence in massaging her daughter's legs along with braces, surgeries and yes, dance lessons, were successful in treating the condition - so successful, in fact, that Patricia was accepted into the Junior Rockettes when she was sixteen-years-old!
She was with the famous group for a couple of years and was invited to tour with them, but her shyness about being away from home AND her love of art drew her instead to study art.
"Though I danced with joy," she says, "art was my spiritual place." It was about this time that her older sister, Nancy, also a dancer with a famous New York company, the American Ballet Theatre, decided she was being called to a more spiritual life and, at the age of 21, entered a Carmelite Monastery. Sr. Berenice of the Risen Christ now lives in a hermitage outside of Spokane.
In her 20's Patricia left the east coast to come to California where she eventually met and married John Shubeck. [An artist and craftsman in his own right, John designed and built the faithfully-executed Mission-style altar and ambo in the Mission Chapel as well as furniture for six other churches.] For fifteen years during the '80's and 90's Patricia was Youth Minister for Holy Cross where her kindness and gentle spirit drew a generation of young people - and their grateful parents - closer to Christ.
On September 11, 2001 Patricia, along with Pastor Mark Stetz, followed by hundreds who had gathered in the park in response to the terror attacks, processed somberly into the church. Calling the Easter candle "a candle of hope," the Sentinel reporters wrote:
"The sanctuary...dimmed with the setting sun...as 400 people gazed upon a single lit candle..." Patricia's face, holding that candle, reflected the grief and disbelief of everyone who gathered to mourn and pray that night.
Her presence at liturgies throughout the Monterey Diocese has set a tone of prayer and joy, celebration and hope, serenity and gratitude. In addition to the Holy Cross Triduum Liturgies, Patricia has participated in reconciliation services, Thanksgiving and Mary Magdalene celebrations. She has danced for Liturgy Gathering, an annual Diocesan event from 1987 to 2003, and the Fr. Jim Nisbet Scripture Retreat which began in 1981 and is still going strong. As these photos illustrate, she brings scripture to life!
It is one thing to evoke beauty and spirit; it is another to be able to pass it on to the next
generation. Patricia is a consummate teacher, understanding that young people learn by what is "caught, not taught." As we can see from the last photo, she has even taught older people to dance!
When asked the difference between dancing and liturgical movement, Patricia has a ready answer: "The difference is that you're glorifying God with your entire body. It's always prayer. You never do it as performance. Even with incense, it's being SO thankful and honored that my body can praise God."
It seems apt to end this story of a life of beauty, poetry in motion, and grace in every part of her being by sharing that Patricia is a grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of one. Here she is with Cloey, now 31-years-old and following in her grandmother's footsteps by creating exquisite bouquets of flowers at a shop in Monterey. Beauty, thankfully, is passed on to those who breathe it in everyday.
There will be more to share about Patricia's life of beauty as found in her artwork. Look for that in the Pentecost edition of "Holy Cross Community Voices," our parish newsletter coming out in May.