SW News: A small group of students has built a snow shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the woods close to Michigan Technological University. Jay Czerniak, and fellow members of St. Albert the Great Campus Ministry at MTU, worked to build the shrine over the course of a week. The group of 4 first piled and packed snow in a valley to set it to harden. A few days later, on Friday, January 28, a cave was carved out of the hardened snow using a shovel and machete. The work, which took a little over 2 hours, was carried out at near-zero-degree temperatures.






Later that night, a group of around 50 students snowshoed into Keweenaw woods for a fireside fellowship. The campus ministry, led by Father Ben Hasse, had prepared over ten gallons of chili for the group! Jay Czerniak and some of his friends decorated the shrine with roses and candles. The students hiked to the snow shrine and prayed a decade of the rosary in front of the statue of the Blessed Mother.

The campus ministry students have been building snow and ice chapels every year since 2016. Work on this year’s ice chapel is nearing completion.  An ‘Ice Mass’ would be celebrated on February 11.