Breakfast at the Sawmill restaurant in Ada. The place captured the essence of the words "exceptional mediocrity."

Day 2:

Following Mass this morning we came back to the rectory and watched television. The O.L. of Lourdes rectory reminds me of the house from Mama's Family. In fact, it reminds me of it so much that I have taken to calling Fathers Dave and Doug by names inspired by 1980s television show; Venton and Iola respectively. Fr. Dave's family gave him a high definition television which has blown my mind. For a little while during the Price is Right this morning I thought Drew Carey was in the rectory living room. I guess I am behind the times when it comes to television. 

After some leisure time at the rectory we ate breakfast in Ada. After an incredibly so-so meal we headed south to the area around Maria Stein, Ohio (in Mercer and Auglaize counties). If you have never been to this area it is worth a look. It has been dubbed the "Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches," and is a veritable monument to the faith of the German Catholics who settled in this area well over a century ago. Maria Stein is a very small village (maybe thirty people) and is surrounded by thousands of acres of perfectly level farmland. Everywhere you look there is a beautiful Gothic (typically, though not always) spire jutting out of a cornfield. In some places who can see three or four at a time. These churches, all of them Catholic, were built in fields and meadows by devout Teutonic husbandmen and women. As one commentator put it, "what marks this land so graphically is a continuous skyline of churches - huge churches, with cloud-piercing spires, standing out in the middle of nowhere, as if some giant plucked them up out of Germany and plunked them down into the corn fields. A traveler drives down the country roads with his jaw sagging in wonderment."

Almost all of these parishes are staffed by the Precious Blood Fathers, a predominately German community. Their motherhouse is located in this region and is under the patronage of St. Charles. The Precious Blood Sisters had their original motherhouse a few miles away in the village of Maria Stein (today three nuns remain). All told there are thirty-four churches in this region. Many are clustered with other parishes; for instance five  smaller parishes (two are pictured below - St. Rose and St. Sebastian) are grouped into a cluster cared for by one full-time priest and a retired priest. The pictures don't do them justice.

St. Charles Seminary

The beautiful non-Gothic Immaculate Conception Church in Celina, Ohio.

Candles burning under a fire alarm. Perhaps there is a devotion to St. Blaze (no to be confused with St. Blaise) in this parish.

High altar at Immaculate Conception in Celina.

Baptismal font in Celina. The parish is raising money for a water slide.

Tabernacle at St. Charles Seminary. Clearly installed in the 1950s it even has fins. Commenting only on the style, it looks like it was designed by the same guy who designed the 1957 DeSoto.

Chapel doors, St. Charles Seminary

Magnificent high altar at St. Rose parish. This parish has 60 families

High altar at St. Sebastian parish, this parish has 42 families

Stations from St. Sebastian. As is the case in most of these parishes they are in German.

Viva la Maria Stein!

The relic chapel at the Maria Stein Convent. To the left is an attached adoration chapel. There is a button near the gate of the communion rail that starts a 12 minute audio tour. When I hit the button Fr. Doug jumped and Fr. Dave reprimanded me for disturbing the people in the adoration chapel.

"Sister, you are a fake."

First-Class relic - w whisker from Padre Pio's beard.

Relic Chapel communion rail

St. Aloysius church.

Dinner at the El Campo in Ada

El Presidente

Fr. Doug, "Don't move, their vision is based on movement."

AMC Hornet with no rocker panels. Welcome to Ohio