ROAD TRIP

So yesterday I wrote to you that I was going to be away from the parish most of the day with two of the seminarians who are staying at and working for the parish over the summer to go to Christ the Bridegroom Monastery to visit the sisters there and check on the progress of the St. Sebastian icon.  It is over in Burton, Ohio surrounded by an Amish community.  We passed a couple of buggies on our way.

We had lunch and chatted and then Sister Iliana FINALLY asked, "So, do you want to see the icon?"  It was killing me being polite while the anticipation built.  So we made our way to the icon room and got our first glance of St. Sebastian.

It is marvelous.  Better than I hoped.  But it isn't done yet.  She has to wait several months before putting on the last coats.  Everything needs to dry.  She was concerned about a delivery date but I assured her that we actually don't NEED it until 2018, the 90th anniversary of the parish.

On a whim she painted the background blue which turns out to be fortuitous.  The church building of St. Sebastian is largely blue in the interior due to the first pastor's devotion to the Blessed Virgin.  So that just turned out cool.

Across the street is a shrine dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  You can go visit it yourself.  A number of people visited it while we were there praying and looking around.  The first thing that you come across is this church.  It doesn't look like much from the outside but the inside is pretty cool and conducive to prayer.

Then you take a long walk back to the outdoor shrine.  

This is the main shrine on the property but there are many more minor shrines such as to Fatima and Lourdes.  Some of it is in disrepair but the community seems to slowly restoring it to what it once was.

Then there are these bells.  I need them.  I promised not to make too much noise but I had to ring them at least once and Sister was kind enough to let us have at it.