Fr. Ken Alt, C.PP.S., recently took up a new parochial ministry at the Marion Catholic Community, five parishes in and around Maria Stein, Ohio. Before that, he was the pastor of Holy Trinity Parish near Bryant, Ind.
Along his duties at the parishes in Marion Township, he was recently called on to solve a mystery: how did a big pumpkin end up growing in a tree back at Holy Trinity?
Fr. Alt received two letters from Holy Trinity parishioners on October 5. “Enclosed, I found a most curious and unique picture of a good-sized pumpkin hanging 20 feet or more from a tree near the grotto of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the south end of the parish property,” he said.
He continues: “It seems that the vine had slowly climbed up and around the trunk of the tree during the summer growing season without being detected by anyone, even me, who had kept a close eye on the landscape. Lo and behold, someone took notice of this one-of-a-kind spectacle, a large pumpkin dangling from the branches of the tree.
“The men of the parish, using the same big ladder used for changing lights in the church, harvested the pumpkin for use with the fall décor in church.
“The baffling mystery that people at Holy Trinity were struggling to solve was how did that pumpkin end up growing in that tree? I have a little bit of wisdom about that. Some pumpkins had decorated the front porch of the parish house during fall 2019. I pitched them out behind the grotto so they could return to Mother Earth and not end up in the dumpster or landfill.”
Fr. Alt concludes, “With all the other serious issues impacting people’s lives during 2020, our God and Mother Nature have given the people of Holy Trinity something to smile about!”