A Man for All Seasons
Not long after arriving in Benson, Graham spoke with a local farmer, who enumerated the community’ s virtues. Foremost among them, according to the farmer, was that there were no Catholics in town.
During the war, a Benson neighbor poking around in the Carey house came upon Graham’ s World War I uniform in the closet. The neighbor decided that this was a German Army uniform and Graham was a German spy. Said neighbor contacted federal authorities, who came to Graham’ s home to check him out. In later years, Graham laughed it off, but understandably regarded the episode as upsetting. alike, to work together to build a new church in their community. Dozens of Bensonites volunteered their time to build the church, which Carey designed and engineered. He received approval for the project from Catholic Bishop Edward Ryan and named the church Christ Sun of Justice.
The Church was built on Sunrise Farm on a knoll overlooking the Hubbardton River. It is located roughly a mile back from 22A, the main roadway that passes through Benson.
The story of Christ Sun of Justice exemplifies the willingness that Vermonters show time and again to of the church was made with marble while the roof was made from slate. A bell placed over the altar was a Carey family heirloom, made originally for a church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the summer home of Graham’ s parents. A high pyramidal tower stands directly over the altar. A sundial was built into the church’ s south wall. The twelve cornerstones of the church bear inscriptions of the names of the twelve apostles.
“ I’ m a Catholic and interested in design and building. I wanted to build a church that would be perfect for the country,” Graham told the Rutland Herald in 1954.
Graham tried to lure people of similar sensibilities to Benson. He longed to create a community of like-minded, liberal Catholic artists. He tried to start a school and build a hydroelectric dam on his property. None of this came to fruition. The Careys counted among their friends the Von Trapp family of The Sound of Music fame and Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker movement, known for its pacifism and social activism.
“ My father originally hoped that Sunrise Farm would develop into a self-sufficient community of craftspeople,” said John.
Instead, Graham turned his communal interests towards building a church for Catholics in Benson, a place he regarded as both beautiful and practical.
In 1954, Graham estimated that 60 Catholics resided in Benson and had to travel to another town for Mass. Graham called upon his neighbors to help in the project, Catholic and Protestant
Christ Sun of Justice Church
help their neighbors. Construction commenced in 1951 after that year’ s harvest. Carey and some townspeople drew logs from the nearby forest for use in the building of the church. In 1952, they laid the foundation. During 1953 and 1954, the volunteers worked on the exterior of the church, which was built in the shape of a cross. The interior of the church incorporated work by some of Graham’ s favorite artisans. English sculptor Peter Watts completed carvings around the east door. The church’ s-stained glass was designed by German artist Clement Scmidt and made by Carl Paulsen, an artisan from Massachusetts. The church contains a sliver of the cross on which Jesus was crucified. It makes use of local stone— the body
John describes Christ Sun of Justice Church as the“ ultimate expression of Graham’ s artistic ideas.”
Carey said as much in the 1954 Rutland Herald story, though he gave most of the credit to the townspeople who volunteered their time to help build it. In the article, Carey made sure to credit by name the dozens of town residents of all religious convictions who helped him build the church.
Christ Sun of Justice is just one of three privately held Catholic Churches in the world and it is overseen by a small non-profit trust. For many years, a priest from the neighboring town of Orwell came to the church during the summertime to say weekly masses. It
48 VERMONT MAGAZINE