Bishop Ruggieri blesses the site of a new grotto to be located at St. Peter Church in Portland

Praying that the work that was beginning would “enliven our faith and make us grateful,” Bishop James Ruggieri blessed the site of a new grotto that will be located outside St. Peter Church in Portland.

“As we break ground on this important project, let us ask God our all-powerful Father that the work taking place on this site will contribute to the building up of his kingdom and will join us in faith, hope, and love to Christ,” the bishop said.

During the ceremony, held on Sunday, August 11, the bishop asked the Lord to “Grant that the work we begin today for your glory and our own well-being may progress day by day to its successful completion.”

He then sprinkled the site with holy water.

The grotto will pay tribute to St. Peter, St. Rocco, and the Blessed Mother. It will feature St. Peter’s Courtyard to the right of the church, where there is currently a driveway leading to a garage no longer in use. There will then be outdoor Stations of the Cross dedicated to St. Rocco. And a sloped grassy area behind the church will be transformed into a grotto for the Blessed Mother.

“You’ll come down and there will be a gate here. Enter the gate, and that will be the interior grotto. It will be all floral, some pavers, meditative benches, and then a statue of La Pietà will be against the wall,” explains Jim Ciampi, who chairs the grotto committee.  “It will beautify the church, and I think it’s going to be great outreach for St. Peter’s. It’s stepping into the community and giving the neighborhood some real sense of who we are.”

The parish used to have a grotto, but it was taken down years ago to make room for the parish hall. It was Ciampi who first envisioned bringing it back and approached Father Seamus Griesbach, the pastor, about it. Ciampi says the inspiration for it goes back to his grandfather, a bricklayer who helped to build the nearly 100-year-old church not long after arriving from Italy.

“I remember my father telling me about, when he was 10 years old, being down here and watching them construct the church, so that was always with me, and then I started seeing that we had this vacant space out back that was just going unused, and it looked bad, and I said, ‘Why can’t we do another grotto?’”

“Sometimes people aren’t as comfortable walking into the church, and the hope is that this will be kind of an onramp to help people find a place to pray that will help them to encounter God and hopefully make their way into the church eventually,” said Father Griesbach. “I think it will be real asset and just improve the exterior of the church and make it more welcoming and make it more peaceful.”

The project has actually been in the planning stages for a couple years, but there were a few issues that had to be resolved before work could begin. Now, with everything in place, the bishop, Father Griesbach, Ciampi and other committee members picked up shovels and ceremonially dug into a pile of dirt to mark its beginning. The hope is that much of the work will be completed before winter.

Along with donations, one way that people can support the project is by buying memorial pavers. The pavers, which can be engraved in memory or in honor of someone, will line the area around the courtyard leading to the grotto. If you are interested, email [email protected].