A week of peace

Whenever Rocky and I head North on vacation we try to stop at the Grotto of Lourdes at Emmitsburg in Maryland. They've made some changes since we were there in February. A new visitor's center with a gift shop and modern bathrooms(!) is open and Father Jack Lombardi is no longer there which means the shrine shares a priest with the St. Seton shrine up the road. The Our Lady of Medjugorje statue is gone (hooray!) and a beautiful statue of Our Lady of LaVang is in its place.  We said the rosary, visited the little chapel, got some spring water and headed on to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Dutch Country is one of our favorite places. We stayed at a really nice bed and breakfast owned by a Mennonite couple, and met some interesting people who were also guests. We ate the best bread in the world, whoopee pies, buttered noodles and ham loaf. We visited an Amish home and toured Wheatlands, the home of President James Buchanan and spent three hours in the National Watch and Clock museum.  They have the Tridentine Mass at St. Anthony's in Lancaster City but we went to the Vigil Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes in New Holland because it was the closest church to us. The parishioners were better dressed than my Northern Virginia folks and their kids were much better behaved. It was  a nice Mass. It's always interesting how Mass at multiple parishes can be so very, very different. Everyone we met was so nice and kind and it was a peaceful respite. On our last day we went to Philadelphia to the St. Rita Shrine.  The church is staffed by the Augustinian friars. It's in an rough neck sort of neighborhood so I advise you to hide anything in your car that screams "tourist". After Philly, we drove home.