By Jack Brammer
Kentucky Lantern
On a sun-splashed late morning Tuesday, former Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Jerry Lundergan, along with his wife, Charlotte, and several others, heaped shovelfuls of dirt heavenward to break ground for a multimillion-dollar religious garden and 70-foot cross at St. Patrick’s Cemetery.
Lundergan, a well-known Lexington entrepreneur who owns several companies in Lexington in the food services and hospitality industry and emergency disaster services, wants to turn six acres in the front of the historic cemetery in the village of Washington in his hometown of Maysville into a religious site that he thinks may attract tens of thousands of people each year.
The project will feature a replication of the Garden of Gethsemane near Jerusalem where the New Testament says Jesus prayed the night before his crucifixion. It will contain life-size bronze statues of Christ and the main characters in the 14 Stations of the Cross. They are representations of events in Jesus’ life on his way to the cross. The planned cross will stand seven stories high.
Lundergan is aiming at a completion date of early next April for Easter services and envisions tens of thousands of visitors each year. A minimal fee may be charged but nothing like the admission prices at the Creation Museum and Ark Park in Northern Kentucky that sometime go over $100, he said.
Lundergan noted that any proceeds would go to maintain the garden and cemetery and support St. Patrick’s church.
Lundergan acknowledged Tuesday that the project will cost several million dollars. No tax dollars are to be used, he said, but the state may sell to the church at appraised value 2 ½ acres of surplus land in front of the cemetery – known as old U.S. 68 – to be used for parking.
The bishop of Covington, the Rev. John Curtis Iffert, has leased land to Lundergan, who will give the entire garden to St. Patrick Church once it is completed.
Lundergan unveiled the first Station of the garden at the groundbreaking ceremony that attracted about 120 people at the site. It shows Jesus speaking to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who presided over the trial of Jesus and ultimately ordered his crucifixion.
Reto Demetz, an Italian sculptor who designed the statues, was on hand to talk about his work.
Other professionals involved in the project are Lexington landscape designer John Carman of the CARMAN firm, and Betty Vento of Mentor, Ohio, who is an expert on religious statues.
But the day belonged to Lundergan, who thanked his wife and their five daughters for their support and said they were fulfilling a dream. Daughter Alissa Lundergan Tibe moderated the hourlong ceremony.
He recalled how he visited the cemetery as a boy with his parents, who attended St. Patrick’s Church, and where he was baptized, married and someday be buried in its cemetery.
He spoke of his love for the church and Maysville.
His comments received a standing ovation.
The Rev. Augustine Aidoo of St. Patrick’s Parish prayed that the project becomes “a beacon of hope” while several public officials touted its potential economic development as well as its religious message.
Maysville Mayor Debra Cotterill said the project’s “economic implications are enormous” with many visitors. It is to have a welcome center with a gift and snack shop and be on the site where the groundbreaking was held.
Mason County Judge-Executive Owen McNeil predicted the project “will attract visitors from around the globe,” and state Rep. William “Buddy” Lawrence, R-Maysville, said it will attract national and global attention.
David Cartmell, a former mayor of Maysville for 20 years and now a city commissioner, said the project will become “iconic” for the region.
“This is a big, big day in Maysville,” he said.
Lundergan plans to post a website soon keeping people informed of the development of the project. He said it could be reached by Googling Gethsemane Garden Maysville.
Jack Brammer is a native of Maysville and has been a reporter in Kentucky since 1976, He writes for the NKyTribune and for the Kentucky Lantern, where this story first appeared. It is republished with permission. Brammer is a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.