Parish Pride - Our Lady of the Wayside

Devotion to Our Lady under the Latin title “Madonna della Strada” dates to the 5th century, when her revered image on a fresco was moved along from one roadside shrine to another. It is still honored today in Rome.

There are four such images inside and outside this suburban church, including a stained glass behind the altar. This modified Romanesque edifice built in the mid-’50s has a wood-beamed ceiling “to warm it up,” and a marble interior to “to brighten it up.” Its 1965 Wicks pipe organ and bells in the campanile draw people to worship.

Parishioners volunteer in many support groups from respect life to Meals on Wheels, PADS, the widowed and divorced. Prayer groups abound from Christ Renews His Parish to holy hours and they pray as hard as they play at men’s basketball and golf and women’s bowling and bridge. A new parish center was opened for the 50th Jubilee in 2003. Check out their Web site at www.olwparish.org for the whole story.