Dear Parishioners,
I’m looking forward this week to making a spiritual pilgrimage with parishioners from all three of our parishes. We will be traveling together on a charter bus to several religious sights north of here about an hour. However, the primary focus of our one-day pilgrimage is the Sorrowful Mother Shrine which is midway between Attica and Bellevue. For those unfamiliar with those two small towns, our destination is south of Sandusky, about thirty minutes.
People who live near the Sorrowful Mother Shrine, or know its history, refer to the area as Marywood. I’m one of those people. I resist referring to it as being “rural Bellevue” even though today it does have a Bellevue mailing address. Some might wonder if I have something against the good people of Bellevue. I don’t. My reasoning for resisting calling that area anything but “Marywood” is a religious one.
The parish next to the Sorrowful Mother Shrine was originally called St. Michael but was renamed to St. Gaspar about twenty years ago with the closing and reconfiguring of parishes. The original St. Michael log-cabin church was built in the early 1800’s and later replaced with the current brick structure. It is the seventh oldest parish in our diocese, and was not referred to as Marywood until something remarkable happened there.
In the late 1840’s the local people witnessed the Blessed Virgin Mary appear several times over the nearby woods. The repeated sightings of the Blessed Mother were deeply moving to the people of that area. In response, the Catholics of that area adopted the name of Marywood and built the Sorrowful Mother Shrine at the spot where the local people repeatedly saw the Blessed Mother. Many miracles have occurred there over the shrine’s long history. There have been many physical healings, but many more spiritual healings and conversions, which are the most important miracles.
That shrine, like many of the shrines Catholics sacrificed to build, is a powerful destination for those who come seeking the Lord in humility. I’m looking forward to being there once again to give thanks to God for the faith I live each day and for the gift of the priesthood. Both of these lead me closer to God and help me lead others to God. My fellow pilgrimages seek the same. In traveling to Marywood, we will take your prayer intentions with us, praying for you as you pray for us. We will ask the angels and saints to pray with us, as we do at every Mass, but will ask the Blessed Virgin Mary in a particular way to pray with us and for us: dear Mother Mary, lead us closer to Christ Jesus your Son!
The planning for our next tri-parish pilgrimage has already begun. That trip will likely be in late spring to Noah’s Ark in Kentucky. Your suggestions for future pilgrimages are welcomed. Some discussion has also begun for a trip to Rome, the Holy Land, or Medjugorje. We priests are looking forward to spiritually journeying with you!
Sincerely,
Fr. Miller