Pilgrimage to West Bend

Earlier this summer my kids found my old Viewmaster and reels tucked away on a shelf in our basement.  As they looked through the slides, they came across a set of reels from West Bend's Grotto of the Redemption, a souvenir of  a family trip we took when I was a child.  All three kids thought it was pretty cool looking and my son suggested, "We should go there some time."

Well, we looked at the calendar, saw that the weekend right before school started back up looked open and made plans.It was about a 3 and a half hour drive there, so we got a room at the Park View Inn.  Drove over Saturday after football practice ended.  Spent some time walking through the Grotto marveling at the intricate work, discussing how powerful Fr. Dobberstein's faith and devotion was, and letting the message of Redemption sink in before attending Mass in the suitably gorgeous Church of Sts. Peter and Paul.  After Mass we went to dinner, had some fun family time and returned to the Grotto just before bedtime to say our family night time prayers in some of the most inspiring parts of the Grotto.

If you live within a day's drive of West Bend, I can't think of a better family outing than to make a trip to visit the Grotto.  My kids would agree.  It is such a beautiful, inspiring and peaceful place for prayer, meditation, and devotion.

Enjoy a few other photos I took.