MAGNA -- A Utah artist reconstructed several broken church statues after vandals destroyed them last year.
The thieves broke into Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Magna, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
But not all was lost.
Catherine Holt an expert in ceramic restoration offered to fix the damaged statues.
“I am really grateful and blessed that they trusted me to do this,” Holt said. “And to be part of that little church.”
Church members thought the old statues couldn't be salvaged.
“They were just pieces, many pieces, hundreds of pieces. And we gathered them all up and put them in garbage bags,” said Deacon Rick Huffman.
Still they couldn't bear to throw them away. Some of the pieces of art had been in the church for 80 years.
Every day since August, Holt has worked on the statues, free of charge, to restore them.
“Each piece I do has its own difficulty,” she said. “This one I think had a lot of real importance.”
She has two more left to piece together the others stand resurrected in the church.
