Mass this morning at the St. Maria Goretti Chapel at the Serenelli Project was quite the blessing. Presiding was the new Archbishop of Cincinnati, Robert Casey. We’re quite grateful the new archbishop took time to come say Mass in the tiny chapel for a dozen or so of us volunteers at the Serenelli Project.
Archbishop Casey also joined us for breakfast afterward, sharing for us his training regimen for the first pitch he will throw at an upcoming Reds game (he wasn’t the ballplayer in the Casey household, he admitted) and other bits of information on his life before arriving in Cincinnati. Based on his conversation with me and others, I think we’ve been blessed with a wonderful new shepherd of our archdiocese.
This weekend, my wife, my father-in-law, and I are in Northern California, visiting oldest son Ian.
We spent the Fourth on the Monterrey Peninsula, much of it in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Carmel is the home of Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, one of the numerous California mission churches. It is known as the Father of the Alta California Missions. It was headed up by St. Junipero Serra until his death. He is buried at the church.
Being the Fourth, the basilica museum was closed, though the Blessed Sacrament Chapel was open for Eucharistic adoration.
On Wednesday, I joined a handful of parishioners from St. John the Evangelist, as well as others from the Cincinnati area, on a trek to the Land of Cross-Tipped Churches, West Central Ohio, and the home of the Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics.
The shrine is located on what was once the motherhouse of the Sisters of the Precious Blood. The focus of the site changed many times through the years as the mission and direction of the sisters evolved.
In the 2000s, the site was restored and turned into the shrine and museum, where the sisters story is told.
The shrine has more than 1,200 relics from saints from all over the world, most of them first class. Its collection is one of the largest in the United States.
Pictured here is the Relic Chapel, bodily remains of St. Victoria, the Adoration Chapel. Finally, on a sadder note, is nearby St. John the Baptist Church, heavily damaged by fire earlier this year.
The shrine is one of three pilgrimage sites in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati during this Jubilee Year. If you’re ever in rural West Central Ohio, and why wouldn’t you be, I urge you to visit this wonderful site.
My 52 or so weeks on the road was the experience of a lifetime, vastly exceeding my expectations. The only regret happened in Maine, when, due to a misunderstanding on my end, I missed out on the opportunity to accompany Deacon Robert Curtis to the Maine State Prison as he fulfilled his obligations as a prison ministry chaplain.
I rectified that today.
I joined Marty Arlinghaus, director of prison ministry for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and founder of the Serenelli Project on his weekly visit to Warren Correctional Institution in Lebanon, Ohio. It was an amazing experience.
Since we had no priest with us today (a situation Marty hopes will be fully rectified soon, as new Archbishop Casey has appointed someone to serve specifically with the prison population), Marty, an acolyte, offered a communion service. We closed out the service singing Holy God, We Praise Thy Name. If I’ve ever had a more powerful musical experience than adding my voice to those of a dozen or so inmates singing that beautiful song, I can’t remember what it could have been.
Before the service, an inmate informed Marty he wanted to be baptized. And Marty explained that, at his age, he will be baptized, receive Holy Communion and Confirmation all at once, but only after a process that ensures his is a body and soul receptive for the faith to take root, sharing Christ’s Parable of the Sower. Rather than be discouraged by the idea of a lengthy process to baptism, the young man beamed with joy at the prospect.
More of the inmates joined us for a video presentation on St. Maximilian Kolbe and his devotion to Mary, followed by a group discussion. There, Jerome (who has been in prison for 37 years but just received some positive news from the Innocence Project) answered Marty’s question that there is nothing stopping anyone from living God’s will in prison. And, after some lively back and forth, John pointed out that “None of us is in here for doing God’s will.”
Thank you Marty, the Ohio Department of Corrections and the warm and welcoming men of Warren Correctional Facility. I hope to be back soon to partake again in this wonderful ministry.
We wrapped up our trip the same way we started, with a visit to one of California’s 21 missions. This was the northern most, Mission San Francisco de Asis, or Mission Dolores, naturally located in the city that bears the name of the great St. Francis of Assisi.
The complex includes the original Mission Dolores chapel, the oldest building in the entire city, constructed in 1791. Adjacent to that is Mission Dolores Basilica, built in 1918 and designated a minor basilica in 1952.
St. Pope John Paul II visited in 1987. I stopped and prayed just a few feet behind where he knelt at the chapel.
Included here are images from the chapel, the basilica, a mural and a cemetery, all on the grounds of the mission. Not included was any shots of the baptism taking place in the chapel when we walked in, though that was obviously wonderful to see.
52 Masses 