To seek Christ, Know Christ and Become Christ, each one for the sake of all
Watch our Gardens Grow
Summer 2010
The construction of the Prayer Gardens Memorial Plaza
is now completed! A
Dedication Blessing was held on the Feast of St. Dominic on August
8, 2010 including the unveiling of the recognition monuments.
We worked diligently for some time on the tasks necessary to
make this donor recognition project become a reality. We confirmed the amount and intention of each donor gift,
compiled
the exact gift recognition wording from each donor and explored various possible
architectural designs. We settled on a beautiful design that provides a
gathering place at the entrance to the Gardens.
Please
stop by and view the plaza and recognition monuments. In addition to
allowing for the dignified placement of names on granite monuments, the
design also provides five benches on which to spend time in reflection
and prayer. The new Memorial Plaza adds significant new sacred space to
the Prayer Gardens!
As with all aspects of the Prayer Gardens, this beautiful gift
recognition project is possible because of generous donations from the
people of St. Dominic. The entire cost of the project is covered by the
Prayer Gardens and Memorial Funds so that no money from the regular
parish operating budget is necessary.
We hope that you are as excited as we are about the beautiful design of
the new Memorial Plaza.
After a long winter's nap,
the Prayer Garden planting plans for all eight gardens were completed.
The remaining minor work on the irrigation system has also been
completed.
The plantings were installed in
the Easter Vigil Garden, the Bell Tower Garden, the St. Dominic Central
Garden and the Jubilee Garden. Through the generous donations of many parishioners, the beauty of
this sacred space on our parish campus is becoming a reality.
The
Holy Family Shrine was dedicated on May 18 with Archbishop Dolan.
The Mary, that is part of the Holy Family shrine, hasa
special bronze crown of flowers made for her with a different color
patina by the Domus Dei Studio in Rome. This is the same studio
that has provided us with the beautiful St. Dominic Statue and Crucifix
for our prayer gardens. We had a short May crowning at the
dedication.
See our
list of donors
whose have helped make our prayer
gardens a beautiful addition to our parish campus, a visible expression
of our love for our faith, and a gift dedicated to the greater honor and
glory of God.
November 2007
October 2007
The progress that took place
over the spring and
early summer of 2007 included repairs on the bell tower and the
construction of the terrace, the bases for the Crucifix and the three
shrines tand additional sidewalks.
We were able to celebrate our first Mass on the terrace on the Feast of
St. Dominic, on Wednesday, August 8, 2007. Through the continuing,
generous donations of parishioners, we were able to go ahead with another phase of the prayer gardens.
Additional work also took place:
Nine Juniper evergreen trees and eleven Flowering Crab trees
were planted in the gardens.
Fourteen custom Lannon stone benches were installed in the
Gardens.
The beautiful bronze Crucifix which was
made in the same Roman Art Studio, Domus Dei, that made our St. Dominic
Statue, was installed and unveiled. on November 18, 2007, on the
terrace in the Prayer Gardens. The beautiful bronze Crucifix that
graces our prayer gardens was made possible through the generous
gift of one of our faithful parishioners, Marge Healy, in memory of her
special daughter, Mary. We are most grateful to Marge for her love of
St. Dominic Parish and the Prayer Gardens of St. Dominic.
May 2007
More progress completed spring of 2007 with our Prayer Gardens project!
Due to
a number of generous donations from parishioners over the past year, we
are now in position to make some significant progress in the growth of
our prayer gardens. On or near May 1st, you will begin to see a terrace
constructed in the gardens that will also serve as the base for a
beautiful life size bronze crucifix. The terrace will serve as the place
that, with a portable altar, an occasional outdoor Mass in good weather
may be offered in the future. It will serve as a wonderful place for
classes from the school and Christian formation program to conduct
outdoor gatherings, such as story telling, a place to do some art work
or to spend some time outdoors reflecting on the serenity of the
evolving prayer gardens, a beautiful green space. The bases for future
shrines will be added along with some sidewalk work. In addition, some
necessary repair work will be done on the base of the bell tower that
was donated to the parish by Fr. Edward Grohall, our founding pastor.
The stone on the bell tower will also be cleaned.
I would like to thank our "seeds of giving" donors, benches, trees,
theme gardens, etc., for their patience as we now move forward with this
construction, so these donated items may begin to be placed in the
Gardens in the fall of 2007 or spring of 2008.
We have good news that we have received three gifts of $10,000 each
to help sponsor the beautiful bronze Crucifix that will eventually grace
our gardens. The cost to sponsor the crucifix will be $50,000. This will
pay for the design costs, the making of the crucifix in Italy, its
shipment here, and preparation of the base and installation. We are
looking for two more sponsors, willing to give $10,000 each to help make
the Crucifix a reality in our prayer gardens. If you are in a position
to help by sponsoring the Crucifix, please contact me at the Parish
Center Office.
As I am about to complete my third year as your pastor on June 22nd,
I am overwhelmed with the generosity of our parishioners, who truly are
dedicated to "Seeking Christ, Knowing Christ, and Becoming Christ, each
one for the sake of all." This is really a remarkable faith
community.
Please
stop by and view the plaza and recognition monuments. In addition to
allowing for the dignified placement of names on granite monuments, the
design also provides five benches on which to spend time in reflection
and prayer. The new Memorial Plaza adds significant new sacred space to
the Prayer Gardens! 
The
Holy Family Shrine was dedicated on May 18 with Archbishop Dolan.
Brookfield WI 53045