Christology and the arts 'keep hope alive.' - Katrinka Vanderbauwhede and her class in the arts of the Western Civilization at NYC's Covenant of the Sacred Heart school - Catholic Education

National Catholic Reporter, March 28, 1997 by Patricia LeFevere

NEW YORK -- Most American 16-year-olds leave the 11th grade with little knowledge of classical art, architecture or music. Fewer still have read a Russian novel, viewed the work of a Flemish primitive or Dutch master painter or studied the films of great directors.

Perhaps none has analyzed how art and religion have influenced and affected each other through the ages. These are the kinds of topics that await them at college and/or in the conservatory, if at all.

But April 11, at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, on the upper east side of Manhattan, 40 young women will turn in 25- and 30-page research papers on such artistic heavyweights as Rubens, van Eyck, van der Weyden and their Italian counterparts -- Michelangelo, Caravaggio and Tintoretto. They will write about the works of Dante, Blake, Dostoyevsky, Merton and C.S. Lewis and analyze the films of Hitchcock, Bergman, Scorsese, Capra and Kazantzakis.

Some of their classmates will turn to Bach, Broadway musicals and modern music to discover their religious dimensions. Others will search out the role Christianity played during a particular period -- the Crusades and Renaissance -- or with a particular group such as the Beguines of the late Middle Ages or the Pax Christi movement today.

Crucifixion scenes and Last Judgment paintings will be put under the microscope too, as will the architecture of St. Peter's in Rome and of St. Patrick's and St. John the Divine cathedrals, each a short bus ride from Sacred Heart. Mariology, Celtic spirituality, the Carmelite movement and the shrines of Spain all will be examined.

How can a single class cover what might occupy many university art, religion, history, music and literature departments? It requires hundreds of hours of work by each student and by teacher Katinka Vanderbauwhede, who conceived the Art and Christology course three years ago.

"Our students work so hard, but get little for it outside of the school," Vanderbauwhede lamented. That is because most colleges and universities don't recognize "the academic rigidity of a `religion' course," she said. But last year Sacred Heart's faculty designated the course an "interdisciplinary research seminar," which uses the historical/critical method and integrates Christology and the arts.

"I am interested in the values of Christ. I believe in the values of Christ. I try to get students to know these values by analyzing other people's understanding of Christ," she said.

Vanderbauwhede, a native of Antwerp, Belgium, holds degrees in classical languages and religion from the Catholic University of Louvain as well as certificates in biblical languages and in teacher education. She studied visual arts at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley and obtained a certificate in marketing/advertising at New York University.

Vanderbauwhede's breadth of knowledge -- she speaks Dutch, French and English and is literate in German, Spanish, Latin, Greek and Hebrew -- is matched by her interests: photography, film, fashion, the entertainment industry, commercial print and advertising and body-mind-spirit communication.

In an unassuming way, she assists students not only in finding resources for their papers, but also in developing them into 50-minute oral presentations during the final spring trimester.

Faculty members are invited to the orals, and copies of the students' papers are on view in the library so staff and peers can prepare themselves for what students describe as "enthusiastic and appealing presentations." Before they can write their papers, students will have analyzed biblical texts that provide insights into Christological questions and themes. They will have looked at Jesus' life, his example, his times, his relationships and the church that sprouted from his followers and his teachings. And they will have studied Dominican theologian Fr. Albert Nolan's Jesus Before Christianity.

Besides tapping academic and artistic resources, students are expected to interview experts on their chosen topic and to conduct research in some of the city's public, academic, art and seminary libraries. In the classroom, they regularly report on their interviews and findings in archives and galleries.

When preparing for their orals, students learn a range of practical skills, said art teacher Mary Bolton. Some have mastered videotaping and editing, some have made transparencies and slides, while others have learned Adobe Photoshop and other computer graphic aids.

On several occasions they have benefited from guest speakers, among them New York Times photojournalist Robert Miller, Jesuit and actor Paul McCarren and art historian Sr. Eleanor Carr, as well as Bolton.

"We have tried to integrate the talents of a scripture scholar with the needs of our students," said Barbara Judge, chair of the religion department. Each year Sacred Heart has a small percentage of girls who are Islamic, Protestant or identify with no religious tradition.

Looking at the arts, literature and films has "universal appeal," Judge said. She described Vanderbauwhede's approach as one that allows students to discover who they are through their study.