BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Shepherds of Christ Ministries, a Morrow-based Roman Catholic group, will start raising funds soon to buy a Clearwater, Fla., office building that some believe holds a two-story image of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
The 4-year-old ministry is leasing the building at the intersection of U.S. 19 and Drew Street, said Shepherds president John Weickert. They need to raise between $1 million and $2 million to buy the building, which they hope to do by the end of the year.
Mr. Weickert said local visionary Rita Ring is receiving daily messages from Mary, which are then faxed to Florida and read aloud at daily prayer meetings in front of the building.
"The Blessed Mother's messages said she's going to teach the world to pray from her building in Florida," Mr. Weickert said.
Thousands of people have flocked to the site since Dec. 17, 1996, when a woman noticed the outline of a hooded figure with praying hands in the building's nine black-glass panels. Mrs. Ring said she received messages shortly afterward urging Shepherds of Christ to connect the Morrow ministry and the Florida building by distributing audiotapes and rosaries in Clearwater.
"Please work with great fervor to spread my messages and the message of my Son from this location," Mary told Mrs. Ring, according to the group.
Shepherds of Christ is holding prayer meetings every night at 6:30 p.m. outside the former bank building. Mr. Weickert, who vacationed recently in Clearwater, said the atmosphere has changed since he started visiting.
"What's different now is that Jesus is there. The first thing we did was put up a statue of Jesus and now there's a crucifix there, but she (Mary) wants a bigger one," he said.
Shepherds of Christ, founded in 1994, comprises many ministries, including newsletters for priests, religious brothers and nuns; audio and video tapes and books, rosary groups in schools and homes; rest-home prayer groups; and a prison ministry.
