Ben and I heard about The Shrine of Christ’s Passion a number of times, but we didn’t visit until a few weeks ago. We passed a billboard on our way to my in-laws’ house, and Ben and I decided to visit on our way back home since it wasn’t too far off the highway.
The Shrine of Christ’s Passion is located in St. John, Indiana. There is a half-mile walkway with bronze statues depicting Christ’s Passion. Along the walkway, music plays from speakers. At each “station,” there is the option to listen to a brief explanation. In addition to the main walkway, there is also a Moses at Mount Sinai representation, a Sanctity of Life Shrine, and a 33 ft. statue of Our Lady.
Unfortunately, our experience was just OK. For me, it felt more like a museum than a shrine. Though that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it wasn’t what I expected which is why I was a little disappointed by our mini side trip.
The statues, themselves were beautiful. I was very impressed by the detail of each statue. I felt like it really called to mind the suffering Christ experienced. My favorite “station” was the crucifixion. I thought it was an incredible depiction of the thieves by Christ’s side. One thief is reaching towards Jesus while the other has tight fists and looks ahead.
I appreciated the simple beauty of the accompanying landscaping. It looked nice without distracting from the main focus: Christ’s passion.
I also thought Our Lady of the New Millenium is a beautiful addition to the shrine grounds.
The staff was very pleasant and welcoming.
Despite the positives, it didn’t feel like a shrine to me. Personally, I didn’t like the music playing. I thought it was distracting. In addition to the distractions, there weren’t a lot of places to stop and pray. There were plenty of benches (and kudos to the shrine for making the walkway wheelchair accessible), but it would be difficult to kneel and pray.
Though there was a Catholic Church -St. John the Evangelist- within walking distance (it was actually right off the main walkway), to my knowledge, it isn’t associated with the shrine. It was also locked so there was no opportunity to meditate on Christ’s Passion in front of the Eucharist.
Besides the kneelers in front of the statue of Our Lady, it felt like there wasn’t really an appropriate place to pray which I feel is kind of the point of going to a shrine.
I firmly believe that beauty draws us closer to God, and the beauty at the shrine certainly lent itself to that. I just felt like the opportunity to embrace, meditate on, and pray through that beauty was lacking.
My other big issue was you essentially had to go through the huge gift shop to get to the walkway. I have no problem with there being a gift shop (I think it’s actually a really good idea), and we likely would have gone in even if we weren’t funneled through, but I don’t like that it was almost like a gateway to the actual shrine. Normally, I wouldn’t critique the contents of a gift shop, but since we had to go through it, I’m going to bring it up. There was a wide selection of Catholic books, devotionals, sacramentals, art, and statues. There were some beautiful pieces of art there and a solid collection of books. What bothered me was them having a whole shelf of Protestant Bibles and a number of patriotic items. I understand that the owners want the shrine to be welcoming to those of all faith backgrounds, but it just ended up feeling like there was a Christian identity crisis going on.
Though the statues and grounds were beautiful, it fell short of my expectations for a shrine.
