Our Lady of Mariapoch
Catholic, Shrines April 6th, 2006
Today I was off from work so Carmel and I decided to spend the day together. We decided to go east a few miles and visit an Amish area. We had lunch at an amazing Amish restaurant. We ate "family style" and had some great roast beef, stuffing, mashed potatoes and some heavenly pumpkin pie! Afterward, we went to Wal-Mart and bought The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which we plan to watch tonight.
Next, we drove a few miles and visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Mariapoch in Burton, Ohio. This shrine is in the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma. We first walked around the grounds themselves and they were beautiful. This shrine is totally
rural (and is situated among the Amish; we saw buggies pass on the road by the shrine) and extremely peaceful. There were numerous statues, icons, and the occasional mosaics, all in a gorgeous Northeastern Ohio country setting. There is an outdoor chapel where they have Divine Liturgy services on Sundays starting in May.
Next, we went to the shrine chapel. Fortunately, the priest had a day off from his part-time job and let us in. We had a wonderful conversation with him in the chapel and also prayed. The chapel itself was small, but extremely beautiful and inspiring. It could be a lesson in simple, dignified beauty to counteract some of the ugliness in modern Roman Catholic architecture.
Finally, we went across the street to the convent (?) where we visited the gift shop. The sister living there was very friendly and we came away with some great books. We were amazed at the hospitality of those at the shrine as well as the refreshing informal friendliness. Although Burton, Ohio is out of the way, if you happen to make it in the general area, it’s well worth visiting the Shrine of Our Lady of Mariapoch.
Photos by Jonathan Bennett
April 7th, 2006 at 1:20 am
Jonathan,
I saw on your profile (via Per Christum) that you love “Anything by C.S. Lewis” in terms of favorite books. I couldn’t have said it better myself; he’s still my favorite author. I’d love to hear which books (of Lewis) you have read sometime. If you ever read another one (that’s one of the few I still have to read, or maybe even one I have read), let me know and we’ll have a virtual mini bookclub (if you’re interested). I’ve actually thought about re-reading the Narnia books now that I’m (theoretically) an adult.
Let me know what you thought of the movie…
Tom “God bless you and your descendants” Reagan
April 8th, 2006 at 11:27 am
I love Mary’s icon. What a wonderful experience to see her among the Amish countryside. Thank you for sharing.
April 8th, 2006 at 11:40 pm
Sounds Beautiful! Glad the 2 of U enjoy’d it. Beautiful day 4 it, wasn’t 2 cold.
:)
April 14th, 2006 at 9:08 am
It sounds as though you two love birds had a wonderful day. There is a shrine in St. Augustine that I like to visit when I am there, the grounds are so beautiful. And of course the Cathedral is amazing. If you get the chance you should go!