After celebrating a Sept. 24 Mass in the sacred space of Our Lady of the Visitation Church in Darnestown, Maryland, Cardinal Wilton Gregory presided at a blessing of the sacred grounds outside, offering prayers for the parish’s recently installed Stations of the Cross, Grotto to Our Lady of Lourdes and its prayer garden.

As rain from the remnants of that weekend’s Tropical Storm Ophelia subsided, Washington’s archbishop stood beneath a blue canopy set up outside the church’s entrance, and a large crowd of parishioners who had attended the Mass gathered around him as he recited the prayers of blessing for the sacred grounds.

First praying for the outdoor Stations of the Cross, the cardinal said they are “visible reminders that the God of all mercy has saved us through the death and resurrection of his own Son.”

“As we remember the unmeasured outpouring of Christ’s love, we are invited to follow the way of the cross with devout minds and hearts,” Cardinal Gregory prayed.

As he stretched his hands toward the 14 Stations of the Cross winding around the parish grounds on a brick walkway, the cardinal prayed that those who follow Christ’s footsteps will bear their own crosses patiently.

Then stretching his hand toward the Marian Grotto, the cardinal prayed that people will look to Mary as a model of holiness. Lastly as he blessed the prayer garden, he prayed that it will be a special place of contemplation for people, guided by Jesus who “suffered and rose from the dead in a garden.”

Then Father Greg Shaffer, the pastor of Our Lady of Visitation Parish, rode in a golf cart and sprinkled holy water on the stations, prayer garden and grotto.

Before the Mass and prayer service, Father Shaffer noted that the Stations of the Cross were originally on the grounds of the Our Lady of Mattaponi Youth Retreat and Conference Center in Upper Marlboro, which closed around 2015. The Stations had been stored on the grounds of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Hyattsville. Earlier this year, the priest’s brother, Gerry Shaffer, had his company, Premier Hardscapes, transport and install the Stations of the Cross at Our Lady of the Visitation. In addition to building the Grotto and the prayer garden, his company built the walkway for the Stations of the Cross and installed lights along the path so it is illuminated at night. The project had started with a Memorial Garden which now has nearly 50 small markers for families whose babies have died through miscarriage or other causes. 

Gerry Shaffer said the effort for his brother’s parish that was supported by parishioners’ donations “was a wonderful project that happened organically.”

Noting the peaceful setting surrounding Our Lady of the Visitation Church that includes a meadow and woods, Father Greg Shaffer said the effort was a way “to utilize the sacred grounds on this gorgeous property, and make it more of a prayerful area.”

Visitation’s pastor noted that the Stations of the Cross were installed by Good Friday, April 7, and about 150 people gathered there to pray that day. Earlier this summer, workers completed the Grotto, which features ornate stonework surrounding the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. Now the sacred grounds at Our Lady of Visitation are open for visitors to stop by and pray, and students from nearby Mary of Nazareth Catholic School have done so.

After the blessing ceremony, parishioners who had supported the effort described why it was meaningful to them.

John Feeney, a longtime parishioner who works with a sales organization, said he and his wife Patty joined some other families in sponsoring the 13^th Station, “Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross,” which he said reflects the gospel passage from John 15:13 – “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

He said the sacred grounds “set a beautiful tone” there, and parishioners’ support for the project shows the “sense of community and camaraderie within the parish.”

“It’s a place to come and have some peace and say some prayers,” Feeney said.

Parishioner Angeline Taderera – who is originally from Zimbabwe and who is retired from the World Bank – said she helped sponsor the ninth Station of the Cross, “Jesus Falls a Third Time,” to honor her parents and their families.

“For me, this project represents what we can do to evangelize the community and the church in general,” said Taderera, who noted that the Catholic Church’s catechism teaches that “when we share what we have with a genuine heart, we’ll be doing the work of Christ.”

Also sponsoring a Station of the Cross there were parishioners Tony and Maryann Huffert, who supported the seventh Station, “Jesus Falls the Second Time.”

The reason they chose to sponsor that Station was because they understood that after Jesus fell, he got up again “because of love for us,” said Tony Huffert, who is a retired physicist. His wife Maryann Huffert, a registered nurse who works in pharmaceutical research, added, “Love is everything.”

Explaining  their support for the project, Tony Huffert said, “We wanted to give back, for all the parish has done for our family.”

Earlier in his homily at the Mass, Cardinal Gregory said that day’s gospel reading about the landowner paying workers for the vineyard the same wage whether they toiled all day or started working near the end of the day, reflects how all people are recipients of God’s generous love.

Parents, he said, can explain that love to their children, because it shows “how much you love them, not because anything they have done, because your love is not earned – it is freely given. It will always be there, because you love them.”

After the Mass and blessing of the sacred grounds, Our Lady of the Visitation Parish had its annual fall festival in the church hall because of the weather. The festival featured food, games and music.

Artwork inside and outside Our Lady of Visitation Church reflects Mary’s visitation of her cousin Elizabeth, including a statue outside showing a smiling Mary with her arm outstretched in a greeting, and an icon inside the church that shows Mary and Elizabeth embracing each other. Stained glass windows lining the interior of the church depict the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary and saints of the Americas.

A display in the church vestibule encouraged support for a capital campaign at the parish that will provide funding to renovate a barn on the property into Our Lady’s Youth Center and build an Adoration Chapel there.