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CLOUDY Temp: 41 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Thursday, February 20, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend December 28, 2002 The grotto at Providence Medford Medical Center, scheduled for this summer, will be built into a gentle slope at the corner of Crater Lake Avenue and E. McAndrews Road. Providence to build grotto Modeled after the one in Lourdes, France, the grotto will be a place of contemplation and prayer, officials say By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune A grotto of the Virgin Mary will be built in a grove of trees at Providence Medford Medical Center this summer as a place of contemplation and prayer for patients, their families and the public. The $350,000 grotto will be modeled after the original at Lourdes, France, where in 1858 the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared 18 times to the peasant girl Bernadette, instructing her to dig and release a spring with healing powers. Featuring a white marble statue of Mary, the Providence grotto will be cut into the gentle slope at the corner of Crater Lake Avenue and E. McAndrews Road. It will include a waterfall, pool, steps and a rock-walled cave about 12 feet deep for prayer candles, said real estate broker Frank Pulver of Pulver and Leever Real Estate Co., Medford. "It’s a wonderful sign of God’s healing presence in our community," said Sister Patricia Marie Landin of Providence. "The waters of the Lourdes grotto are known for healing, and the hundreds of other grottos, like the one at Notre Dame University, are sanctuaries for inner peace and understanding." Working pro bono on the project for four years are Pulver, architect Doug Snider, landscape architect John Galbraith and contractor Andy Batzer. It will be funded by donations of materials and labor with money donations handled through the Providence Community Health Foundation. "It’s a place of solitude," said Pulver, "and it draws a lot of inspiration from the grotto at Notre Dame University, where people would take their problems and pray, have memorials, fill the grotto cave with vigil candles, maybe propose marriage." Although the grotto will be close to a major intersection, the falling water is designed to mask much of the traffic sound, said Snider, of Medford. The grotto will not be visible from streets and will face the hospital’s front. For access to the public, walkways will lead from the hospital parking lot to the grotto. Benches will facilitate contemplation. "For patients, families and the public, regardless of religious belief," Snider said, "it’s going to be a very quiet and peaceful place, a refuge from the hospital environment and, to Catholics, a place of worship." The grotto is in line with the hospital’s mission of providing spiritual as well as medical care, a goal arising from its founders, the Sisters of Providence, early in the 20th century, said Pulver. Contributions may be sent to the Grotto Fund, Providence Community Health Foundation, 940 Royal Ave., No. 140, Medford, OR 97504. Fund director is Susan Hadley, 732-5000. John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected]. Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S