The Grotto of Redemption

In West Bend, IA there is the Grotto of Redemption (westbendgrotto.com), now designated a Shrine by the Catholic Church. Paul Matthias Dobberstein came to the US wanting to become a Catholic priest. While in seminary, he contracted pneumonia and nearly died. While sick, he prayed to St. Mary and said if he lived, he would build a shrine wherever he was posted. This turned out to be Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Church in West Bend, Iowa. Father Dobberstein was posted to the Parish in 1898 and started the grotto in 1912. Father Dobberstein worked on the grotto for 57 years. Father Greving was sent to West Bend in 1946 to help when Father Dobberstein was 74 years old. Father Greving worked on the Grotto until it was finished in the 1960s, then continued to maintain the Grotto until he retired.

The Grotto is made with rocks from every Continental US state and every country in the world. There is a 2300 lb stalagmite from the Carlsbad Caverns, sent by the original explorer of the cave before it became a National Park. There were about 100 train car loads of rocks used in the Grotto. In some cases, Father Dobberstein made his own rocks. The depictions of streams in the Garden of Eden Grotto are made from melted Coca-Cola bottles, poured into thick slabs, then broken. During the Depression, some other stones were made from glass jars and containers, melted down and colored with discarded crayons, cast, then broken. There are many instances where letters are done backwards in mosaics. The Stations of the Cross has at least three “N”s backwards. The “S” in “Gethsemene” is backwards.

There is also a Christmas Chapel in the Sanctuary done in a similar style. The Gift Shop was done by Father Greving and includes dozens of polished agate and petrified wood slices. It took Greving 16 years to do this.

The place is amazing, even if you don't think it's in good taste.