Bishop blesses ranch site of Catholic college from horse-drawn carriage

Well now: there’s a picture you don’t see every day. Complete with altar server in surplice. Yee-haw!

Details (and a prominent mention of one of our Patheos writers!) below:

Bishop David Ricken, a founder of Wyoming Catholic College, flicked holy water across the prairie as a horse drawn cart took him over a portion of the 600 acres that will one day be the college’s home Sunday. Ricken is the former Bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne. He now serves as the Bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The Broken Anvil Ranch has long been the future site of the campus- even before the college itself fully existed, said Joseph Susanka, director of media and advancement operations at Wyoming Catholic College. When the ranch was proposed as a site in 2004 it seemed ideal, he said. The gift of a substantial portion of the ranch to the college by Francie Mortenson-Perkins led to Lander being chosen as the site for the new private institution. The college was incorporated in 2005 and had its first class of students in 2007.

People gathered and celebrated Mass outside on the prairie before the blessing Sunday.

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Photos by Kelsey Dayton