Sewing Easter Garments Tightens Family's Bond

By Marie Elena Giossi

Marie Elena Giossi Photo

Sister Maria Klosterman, SFP, pastoral associate at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Brooklyn Heights, left, displays one of five baptismal garments created for the catechumens at Assumption by parishioner Betty Fenelon, at right, and her sister-in-law Gladys Delerme Etienne, not pictured.

Catechumens Dickson Fogleman, Rie Kagamihara, Sean Kim, Shirley McDonald and Joe Rontino will be welcomed into the faith April 7 during the Easter Vigil at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Brooklyn Heights.

After their immersion in the baptismal waters and anointing with sacred chrism, the newly baptized will symbolically “put on Christ” by assuming long, white gabardine cloaks with blood-red cord trim. The cloaks will be swirled around each of them and closed at their necklines by Father Michael Carrano, pastor.

Dressing the new Catholics this way is “a tradition with Father Michael,” according to Sister Maria Klosterman, SFP, pastoral associate since 2000, who acknowledges, smiling, that the cloaks “are a little dramatic.”

Father Carrano explains that the dramatic garb is inspired by the garments wrapped around several adults Pope John Paul II baptized at the World Youth Day vigil ceremony in Paris, 1997.

He was so impressed with the way these new Catholics were embraced into the faith that for the last seven years, he’s made sure that Assumption’s catechumens have had similar cloaks to don at their own baptisms.
This year, the garments have been handmade by sisters-in-law Betty Fenelon and Gladys Delerme Etienne, who not only stitched the materials, but also strengthened their relationship in the process.

After retiring from a finance career, Fenelon, a widow, has been taking life easy. A Third Order Carmelite and active churchgoer at Assumption, she loves to sing in the choir and serve as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. In previous years, she also designed and sewed costumes for parish productions of Broadway shows.

“I love this church so much. I’ve been a member for 40 years. I’m here for anything they need,” she said.

When Fenelon’s fellow parishioner Faye Chu informed Sister Maria in January that she couldn’t sew the garments this year as she’d done so beautifully in the past, Sister Maria placed an appeal for a seamstress in the parish bulletin.

Fenelon says she started thinking about how God has called the catechumens, and how they’ve freely chosen to answer His call to follow in Christ’s footsteps.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt God was calling her to use her talents to assist these five men and women on their journey of faith.

Her own faith, she said, “is so much a part of my life. It is my life.

“There’s so much depth in the Catholic faith. You cannot get bored trying to follow in the steps of Christ. It keeps me busy 24 hours a day.”

Haitian Immigrant

Originally from Haiti, Fenelon attributes her faith and penchant for sewing to her parents. Her father owned a textile business and her mother was adept at sewing; both were active churchgoers.

As a child, she’d always ask her mother to make new outfits for her doll. “One day, my mother finally said, ‘Learn how to sew,’ ” she said.

And sew she did, starting with frocks for dolls and progressing to dresses for herself and others. She branched out to knitting and embroidery, but decided to keep her handiwork as a hobby, choosing instead to pursue degrees in finance and accounting.

She moved to Brooklyn Heights with her husband and son in the late 1960s to avoid political tensions erupting in Haiti. They joined Assumption parish and Fenelon worked in the financial sector of various non-profits.

In her spare time, Fenelon has co-founded her own non-profit organization, to educate local women, particularly Haitian immigrants, about breast health and cancer prevention.

When Fenelon mentioned her newest project at Assumption to her brother, Peter, and his wife of nearly 25 years, Gladys, her sister-in-law enthusiastically offered to help.

“I love to sew. It was such a pleasure to do it,” said Etienne, who’s been a parishioner at SS. Joachim and Anne, Queens Village, for 31 years. She learned to sew in her youth by watching the deft hand movements of her maternal grandmother, a seamstress in Haiti.

Both women signed on for the opportunity, much to Sister Maria’s delight.

Fenelon met and measured each catechumen for his or her garment, which they all will get to keep after the baptism. Then she and Sister Maria spent an afternoon in Manhattan’s Garment District purchasing the supplies.

Since Etienne works full-time in the evenings in the psychiatry department’s detoxification unit at Woodhull Hospital, Williamsburg, Fenelon traveled to Etienne’s Queens Village home in the mornings to work on the garments.

The women shared meals and conversation, learning more about each other as people, not just sisters-in-law, as they undertook this faith-fueled endeavor. In two days, they finished all five cloaks.

The hardest part, Fenelon said, was cutting the material for the first garment, which then became the pattern for the rest. The next step was affixing the piping, which concerned the women because they purchased a thick cord, typically used on curtains, not clothing.

Trusting in the Spirit

Guided by and trusting in the Holy Spirit, they sewed the pieces together, conferring about each detail and offering each other encouragement.

On a recent morning, Fenelon proudly shared the results with Father Carrano and Sister Maria, showing them the fancy looped fastener and how well the thick edging complements the gabardine, adding just enough embellishment and weight so it will drape nicely on the catechumens’ shoulders.

Both women are grateful their God-given talents enabled them to support the catechumens and get to know each other better.

“This really gave me a chance to bond with Gladys. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to be so close to her. I found out how beautiful she is as a person,” Fenelon said.

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