Grotto will be more than ‘a nice thing’

“Really powerful graces come from Jesus through Mother Mary when we honor her,” Father Damien Wee explains as he talks about the new Marian grotto being built at St. Francis Borgia Parish in Blair, where he is pastor.

The grotto, he says, will not be just “a nice thing to have.”

Father Wee and parishioners from Trinity Catholic Parishes – which also include St. John the Baptist in Fort Calhoun and St. Patrick in Tekamah – broke ground for the grotto on July 19 after 8 a.m. Mass.

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Several experiences this year have helped increase their devotion – to Jesus through Mary – and led up to the groundbreaking.

During Lent they consecrated themselves to the Lord through His Blessed Mother, using the book “The Fruit of Her Womb: 33 Day Preparation for Total Consecration to Jesus” by Benedictine Father Boniface Hicks. The parish family purchased the book for its members.

At their parish mission, talks from guest speakers were about the consecration and also about Mary under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Father Wee said he had been inspired by Mary to have the grotto built after praying inside St. Francis Borgia Church. He said he didn’t know how the grotto would come about, but he left that up to his beloved Mother Mary.

The pastor’s prayers soon began to be answered when two major donors stepped up. They chose to be anonymous.

“This whole project is for the glory of God,” Father Wee said. “We’re not going to have any plaques with names.”

Though the priest has traveled eight times to Medjugorje, a site of Marian apparitions, the grotto will honor Our Lady of Lourdes, an apparition site the priest has never been to. He said he was prompted in prayer to honor Mary under that title.

Father Wee is confident that God will pour out grace upon the parish family because they are honoring the Blessed Mother. He recalled that when a chapel was built at Tepeyac Hill in Mexico, under Our Lady of Guadalupe’s direction, the graces were abundant, bringing millions of people into the Catholic Church.

The grotto at St. Francis Borgia – designed to be a place of peace, reflection and intercession – is expected to be completed in October.

Father Wee said he hopes people will stop by the grotto after Mass “to just sit down and pray and be with Mother Mary there.

“We hope that when we have our First Communions and Confirmations, at the end of those Masses, that we can process out and end up at the grotto. That would be a great place for families to take pictures as well.”

The statue of the Blessed Virgin will be 6 feet tall, larger than many images of her at parishes. The grotto’s construction is planned not just to be beautiful but durable, too, he said. “We want this to be something that will last for many generations.” 

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