Retreat Center Blesses Beatitudes Trail, Prays for Peace

The Our Lady of Calvary Retreat Center at 31 Colton St. dedicated three new outdoor spaces designed to offer visitors a place to reflect and enjoy nature. A new Lady of Calvary statue replaces the center's pieta, which was destroyed during a storm, and an outdoor chapel has been added.

Sister Theresina, the center's administrator, also led guests in a guided walk through the Beatitudes Trail created by Rhode Island sculptor Michael Higgins. Higgins used a chainsaw to carve representations of the eight beatitudes given in the Sermon on the Mount in the book of Matthew. In each statue, large arms represent God comforting and caring for people, Sister Theresina said.

During that time, the group remembered and prayed for the victims of 9/11 and petitioned for the restoration of unity in the world.

The band Fourth Day, composed of Bill and Becky Bridges and Doug Konitski, locals who are active in the center's Tres Dias ministry, played an original piece for the occasion.

The public is invited to visit the center and walk the Beatitudes Trail. Reflection guides outlining and expounding on each of the beatitudes are available in a mailbox at the beginning of the trail.