Memories of wayside shrines

By Christina Galeone | CFP Correspondent

In 1950, Father Robert G. Howes, now deceased, traveled to the German village of Oberammergau – which is known for presenting its world-famous Passion Play since the 1600s during years ending in “0” (with rare exceptions, including 2020). While there, he climbed the mountain that loomed over the village, and he read the inscription on the base of a large wooden cross positioned there. What he read was a plea to God to let the cross be a guidepost that pointed people to the right path to a better world. That experience, along with seeing other wayside shrines throughout Europe when he served the U.S. Army in WWII, was the primary inspiration for the Worcester diocesan priest to establish a project intended to turn people’s attention back to God.
The project, which was reported on in a Worcester Sunday Telegram story on May 19, 1957, was known as “Operation Crossroads,” and it consisted of having more than 100 wayside shrines built, blessed, and strategically placed on Catholic-owned property across the Worcester Diocese. With this year commemorating the 65th anniversary of “Operation Crossroads,” Father Howes’ nephew, Bob Howes, reflected on the impact that his uncle and the project had on the diocese. 
In 1955, when Father Howes envisioned the project, he was a pastor at St. Mary Church in Jefferson. He was also the director of the former Worcester Diocese Town & Country Apostolate, an apostolate that promoted understanding and community between longtime residents of rural and suburban towns and the Catholics who were moving into those towns. The project complimented the work he was doing at the apostolate. And it engaged many members of the diocese in a unique, evangelical endeavor.
Once the project was approved by Bishop John J. Wright, the wayside shrine was designed in the early months of 1956. While the white marble crucifix was designed by Arthur Mollica, a Clinton resident at that time, the blueprints for the shrine’s wooden roof and post were created by Roland Perron, a student at the former Cole Trade High School in Southbridge. Laypeople spent weeks building the shrines and what was then known as, the Diocesan Council of Catholic Youth helped fund and distribute the shrines. 
After parishes were given the shrines that were blessed by Bishop Wright, the youth groups at each parish decided on locations that were visible to traffic. The students then beautified the shrines. “Operation Crossroads” was so warmly embraced that Catholic organizations and parishes across the United States requested the blueprints to build their own.
Patrick Loconto, a parishioner at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Dudley, was about 12 years old when “Operation Crossroads” was launched. While he was growing up, he and his family were deeply involved with church life at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Worcester. He remembers it as a time when the Catholic Church was much more visible in the community.
“Traditional Catholicism was very strong when I was growing up,” said Mr. Loconto, who spent much of his young adulthood teaching for the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Adding that there were several Catholic churches near each other that would ring the Angelus bells three times a day, he noted, “I grew up in a time when the Latin Mass was still king.”
Mr. Loconto recalls there being small ceremonies when the shrines (around three, he believes) were installed on the grounds of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. He found the shrines to be very impressive. But he was especially touched by the people who agreed to have them placed on their property. Mr. Loconto said, “For the time in which it was conceived, it was a challenge for Catholics to proclaim their identity; to proclaim that reality and honor it was a big step forward.”
In his post-retirement delivery work, Bob Howes has come across a couple of the last remaining shrines from the project, a private home in Northborough and a cemetery in Westborough. Seeing them brought back fond childhood memories. His grandparents had a shrine at their home in Southborough.
“We’d have first Communion; we’d be standing in front of the wayside cross,” Mr. Howes recalled. He later added, “When we’d go out for rides in the country, we’d see them on the sides of the road.”
And Mr. Howes has fond memories of his uncle as well. He said that Father Howes – who, in addition to being a church pastoral planner for 32 churches throughout the United States, Canada and the Bahamas, was a poet, an award-winning author of Catholic nonfiction and the creator of “Lamp to Our Feet,” the first Catholic television program in Worcester – was an adventurous, inspirational, intelligent person who was also humble enough to be silly around him and the other kids in the family.
“He had spent 30 years of his life advising dioceses all over…,” Mr. Howes said. He added, “These crosses were one of the many things that he did in service to the Worcester Diocese.”
Although Father Howes – who was apparently called to the priesthood while serving in WWII – traveled extensively in his vocation, Mr. Howes said that his uncle always considered the Worcester Diocese his base, and it meant a lot to him.
“He devoted himself to the Diocese of Worcester,” Mr. Howes said. In regards to the small number of 65-year-old wayside shrines that remain, he said, “It would be nice to keep them up.”