St. Marys students visit Kalida church

By Nancy Replogle & Beverly Wolke

The sixth grade students at St. Mary of the Assumption School recently visited St. Michael’s Church in Kalida. The students studied Roman and Greek  architecture in social studies this year and this beautiful church is
Romanesque in style. Besides the shape of a basilica it also has the three
types of Greek columns: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. The stained glass
windows, which picture the Mysteries of the Rosary, are valued at 3 million
dollars and cost $14,000 in 1939. They were shipped from Germany just 2 days before WW II began. Every part of the church’s decoration shows symbolism, such as 33 blocks in the ceiling to represent the years of Jesus’ life and a painting at the top of the columns to represent each apostle and Gospel writer. The students had a good review of Catholic symbols as well as architecture.

Dave Mathew explained to the sixth graders how our water is treated to be safe for drinking after it is pumped from a reservoir. He explained how our
water is treated at the end of the cycle after it has been used in a community. Factories and streets, as well as our homes and farms, all contribute to pollution of our water. He then showed the students how wastewater is treated so the water can be safely put back into the river.
The class is studying renewable and non-renewable resources.