While most 15-year-old boys might spend their free time playing video games, Jaden Comon dedicates hours to restoring old statues of Catholic saints.
The Notre Dame High School sophom*ore began his unique pastime when he was only around 12 years old.
His first restoration project was a pieta, a statue that depicts Mary holding Jesus after he was hung on the cross.
The pieta represents the sorrow of Mary, the humanity of Christ and the connection between mother and son, Comon said. The symbol of mourning is displayed at Catholic rites on island such as funerals and rosaries.
An elderly woman whodied donated anold pieta to Comon's village parish, the Mongmong Catholic Church.The church wanted to use this pieta, but it was in bad condition andneededrepair.
“Nowadays it’s very hard and very rare to find painters, so I stood up and I told the church I could do it, even though I never had experience painting before,” Comon said. “Everything from there would change, and I was able to paint more statues.”
Comon has been an altar server at his village parish since he was a young boy, and does anything he can to help the church. With the pressure of wanting to do well for his community, he worked carefully and paid close attention to detail.
“It was kind of scary because if I do something wrong, I have this whole church community that’s going to be critics. They look at the details, they look at the significance. Everything had to be as close as possible to trying to depict it.”
The parish community was impressed and started spreading word about Comon’s gift. Since then, he has painted the Mongmong church’s patron saint, Our Lady of the Waters, which stands at the altar where he serves. He’s also restored statues of St. Joseph, a pair of angels, and one at the Toto Catholic church.
Comon brings a valuable service to Guam’s Catholic community, as there are very few people on island who restore religious statues.
Working for the Archdiocese of Agana since 2008, Doris Pablo only knows of one other person on Guam who does Catholic saint statue restoration —who is an elderly man.
“It’s very rare that we find anyone to restore statues, especially someone young” said Pablo, office administrator at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica. “Usually we have to look for a vendor instead of a layperson.”
Detailed restoration process
Restoring each statue is a laborious process which can take up to a month to complete.
First, Comon sands down the old paint which can crack and ruin the new layers. He fixes any cracks with plaster, putty or cement, then sands down the surface until smooth.
Next, he layers two coats of primer and paints with bright colors, before adding varnish for shine.
As he got more confident with experience, Comon added detail to his statues to represent different symbolic meanings.
On a statue of Mary, he painted a floral design, to represent her fruitfulness as the mother of Jesus.
He’s also added other little symbols to honor Mary, their patron saint.
“Ifyou look closely, you can see an “M” in the design, and a small cross to represent the blessed Virgin Mary.”
The statues are meant for Catholics to feel connected to the saints, which sometimes means their skin tones will reflect those of the community.
“These statues were of real people, and Christ himself was human,” Comon said. “It gives them humanity and makes you connect. It makes divine things human, more tangible.”
To restore an old statue of St. Joseph, which was originally depicted with a dark complexion, Comon had to mix different paint colors to get the right skin tone.
“I had to learn how to pigment the skin tone to make people want to connect with it,” he said. “A lot of the statues are white, and as Chamorus and Filipinos here on Guam, that’s not our skin tone. So if they paint a statue with that skin tone, they want that skin tone to be the same, and I had to reflect that originality.”
To this young artist, connecting with the statues is similar to how you would with photos of a deceased loved one.
“The church is a family, and we want to remember the people who have passed on before us,” he said. “Just like with a picture in your house of your grandmother who is no longer here, we look at them and remember them —and sometimes talk to them. We know these statues aren’t the actual person, but they help us get into a setting of prayer.”
Priestly aspirations
Comon has held a strong sense of duty and commitment to his church for as long as he can remember.
“As a young boy, I loved going to church. In my drawings and everything, my mother told me always I drew churches or saints, or beautiful Catholic things.”
“Being raised by my Chamoru and Filipino grandparents, they were very religious,” he said.
His grandparents laid the foundation for his parents, aunts and uncles, who all taught him the importance of faith.
“I was privileged to be brought into the faith,” Comon said. “Because of that privilege, I have the essential tools to reach salvation. There is something more than me, and when I am to pass away from this life, there is a hope.”
His connection to the Catholic community and his faith strengthened through close relationships to his parish priest, “Father Jun,” parishioners and staff of the Mongmong church, and educators from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic School and his high school, Notre Dame.
“At a young age, I really knew I wanted to be a priest,” Comon said.
He was in for a rude awakening when his mom told him priests take vows not to marry or have children. Starting a family of his own someday is just about as important to Comon as the church, so he’s taking his time before he fully commits.
Listening to God’s call to priesthood can be rough for a teenage boy, even though he feels it strongly.
After serving as an altar server for late Easter Vigils a few years ago, he woke up the next morning with a strong conviction to become a priest.
“I prayed to God, I said, ‘I’m very young right now, I have so much ahead of me, let me live a regular life as a teenager, and then maybe an adult and I would see if it would work out for me,’” Comon said. “As of right now, all I’m doing is really praying and living a best life in the Christian values and in everything I do, especially my knowledge in the faith, to see if that fire which sparked would still be burning today.”
If God doesn’t call him to be a priest when he’s older, he still plans to lead his future family in faith at home, Comon said.
“I’m putting my faith and my trust in the Lord that he would lead me to wherever he wants me to go.”
Faith despite scandal
Comon attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic School in Agat, at the same place of Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s alleged abuse of young boys.
In July 2017, Comon attended the last picket for Apuron’s permanent removal, in front of the Hagåtña cathedral.
Despite the scandal of nearly 200 allegations of sexual abuse against Guam’s Catholic priests, Comon still holds faith in his church.
Comon believes it’s not the fault of the church, but flawed individuals who don’t reflect the institution and the rest of the community as a whole.
“It’s not the church’s fault, it’s the people who are there,” he said. “The church is always going to outlive these trials and errors in history. The church has stood up from every time it was about to fall, and it is still here today as one of the largest religions in the world.”
Youths for the future
He’s optimistic about the future of Guam’s Catholic community.
“I envision the future of the church moving really with its young people,” he said.
The church has survived through passing traditions down to new generations, and Comon is doing his best to learn as much as he can from his elders to continue these traditions.
“But we need to explain why we do things in order to keep these traditions,” he said. “There are young people who are inspired by faith, and there is a fire burning in them. But there are also young people who are losing the faith, and we need to focus on them.”
By taking the time to explain to youths why certain traditions and teachings exist, Comon hopes more of his generation will join him.
He has many friends in high school and is starting off his second term as class president —but his classmates don’t share the same deep passion for the church.
But when they have questions, he’s excited to open up about his beliefs. He also leads the altar servers at his church, where he can share his faith with his peers.
“Catholicism is so important to me because it brings together families, it brings together communities, and it helps you build a personal relationship between you and God. Someone who is higher thanyou, more divine than you. It gives you a connection with your creator to show you were made for a purpose.”
To other teenagers who want to find a connection to the church, Comon said to come to church, pay attention and don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Comon has close relationships with many adults in his life, including his parents and priest, whom he talks to for advice.
“Have an open mind and an open heart,” he said. “We’re all human. Open your heart, and let the Lord speak to you.”
If you have an old Catholic saint statue you'd like restored, you can contact Comon at jadencomon@gmail.com or call the Mongmong parish at 477-6754.
Reporter Chloe Babauta tells the stories of perpetuating culture, accountability on Guam's land issues, and island life. Follow her on Twitter@chloebabautaand Instagram@mestisachamorrita.Follow Pacific Daily News onFacebook/GuamPDNandInstagram @guampdn.
