2018 Parish Picnic, St. Mary of the Mills

In the on-going celebration of Saint Mary of the Mills's 175th anniversary, our parish had the annual picnic in September. As a special guest, we had a Marian procession from the church, so Our Lady came to the picnic. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperative. Instead of picnicking in the field down the street, we used the parish hall.

Parish picnic at the parish hall

We went to an earlier Mass, so we arrived before Mary did! The procession was to start after the 12:30 Mass. We came at 1:30 and had to wait a bit for the guest of honor. Soon enough, we saw people staring out the door and taking pictures.

Marian procession enters the church hall

Leading her to her proper spot

A quick blessing

Once Mary was in place, our pastor prayed a blessing and, more importantly, said the grace before meals so we could start eating. Our parish has a diverse community, which meant we had all sorts of good things to eat beyond chips and hot dogs. We had dishes from the Filipino, Asian, Africa, and Italian groups!

A plate with a little bit of everything

A few photos from the history of the church were on display. The church is right near the Patuxent River and many mills were built along the river in the 1800s. The church was built to serve the mill workers, hence the name "Mary of the Mills."

History display

The original church

Current church

The original interior

Various groups from the church also had tables, including the ladies' auxiliary who were raffling off a quilt and the Knights of Columbus who were raffling off a Ford Mustang. I bought more tickets for the car than for the quilt, even without the car on display.

Quilt raffle

The Boy Scout troop had some dutch oven cobblers they made for dessert. My older son and I sampled some and chatted a little bit. He hasn't decided which Boy Scout troop he will join when he is done with Cubs in February. This troop is an option, though they go camping every month!

The other corner of the church hall had various games the children could play, including a cake walk and the ever-popular corn hole. Our kids played the games while we ate and chatted.

Enjoying the games

The other special guest that came was Laurel Mayor Craig Moe. We didn't stay long enough to see him since the kids had already done all the fun stuff and were getting bored.

Saying farewell to Our Lady

We went home and discovered our caterpillar chrysalis was gone and a monarch butterfly was there. It was a blessed day all around.

A new butterfly