Relics in the Heartland

In the past week, both Amy Welborn and Don Jim report on an NPR piece on the Maria Stein Center and Shrine of the Holy Relics in central western Ohio. The Center is truly a magnificent piece of work, located amidst the fertile fields where many German and French Catholics settled in the mid-19th century. Maria Stein is just a half-hour's drive from Sidney, the seat of Shelby County, and where my father grew up. There, on a Sunday afternoon, you can still hear the clarion bells of the county courthouse ring out sacred hymns. The sound of them is enough to take me back to my childhood.

This weekend, it's off to Philadelphia, the "city of sisterly love." Till then, I hear the highway a-callin'...