St. Rita's Retreat Center Blesses New Stations of the Cross
An article in the Catholic Sentinel recently highlighted the effort to make the Stations of the Cross at St. Rita's Retreat Center in Southern Oregon more permanent. Fr. Jim Clifford, OSA, led a special ceremony blessing the new Stations.
"A wooded path that helps worshipers participate in the last hours of Jesus’ life now has signs made of ceramic, not laminated paper.
St. Rita Retreat, on a quiet hill above the Rogue River Valley, has had a Stations of the Cross trail since it opened in mid-1980s. The images were drawn on paper and sealed in plastic for protection. But time wore down the holy pictures.
An anonymous donor came forward to pay for the same images to be cast in a more durable medium. A local artist copied paper images into ceramic.
“The paschal mystery is the focus of our faith. Its theology is embedded in the stations,” said Jeanne Ellen Podolske, manager of the retreat house and a member of nearby Our Lady of the River Mission."
The full article can be found HERE.
St. Rita's Retreat Center was founded by the Augustinians in 1985, and has since been turned back over to the Catholic community of Southern Oregon. Be sure to visit and walk the path the next time you are passing through the region.
