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Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2007 / St. John Neumann parishioners visit Biblical era

Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 16, 2007

Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic Youngsters write on a scroll with quill pens, studying the Hebrew letters Jesus would have learned. The exhibit was part of the Bible Times Museum at St. John Neumann Parish in Canton Township.

Canton Township — "By the power of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Virgin Mary and became man."

Catholics say the words each Sunday in the Nicene Creed. But for the past two weeks, the parish community at St. John Neumann Parish got a glimpse of what it was like to have been born when Christ was, and to grow up in His neighborhood.

Teams of volunteers at the parish assembled a Bible Times Museum throughout different parts of the St. John Neumann church building. On six nights, families who take part in the parish's religious education initiative — conducted this year in monthly "festivals" — shared a meal together, then made their way through eight rooms of the museum. Each room illustrated an aspect of life in Christ's time, including medicine, school, occupations, housing, clothing, games, travel and food.

"The goal is to show how Jesus is human," said Donna Franke, director of religious education. "Jesus continues to be human in us. We understand what it was for Him to live in the first century, but we also think about how He is still alive in us today, in our century."

Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic David Kubinski, with six-year-old daughter, Anna, clinging to him, checks out the museum exhibit on first-century homes and buildings.

The museum contained plenty of information about the first century. There were small displays containing jewelry, medicine, and school supplies similar to Christ's time. There also were larger illustrations — such as a replica of a Jewish temple and a house, which parents and children could enter.

"You can see in a real, more tangible way what it was like," said David Kubinski, who walked through the museum Monday evening with his children Jacob, 9, and Anna, 6. "I think it's great for my kids. They get a feel for, when they hear the Bible stories, what it was really like at the time."

Plus, Kubinski added, there was plenty for the adults in the museum beyond which they could learn at a Sunday Mass.

"I didn't know anything about the Hebrew alphabet, or what a school looked like," he said. "And I've been going to church for a zillion years."

Each room also contained a video that illustrated its theme.

Younger museum-goers seemed to enjoy the experience most. During their meal, volunteer Penny Pilkiewicz explained what food in the first century would be.

Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic Mary Coleman helps her son Riley, 5, try on clothing similar to what Jesus wore.

Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic Eight-year-old Maggie Lloyd picks out mint leaves to be crushed with a mortar and pestle in the Bible Times Museum.

"No spaghetti, pizza or candy bars," she said, eliciting gasps from youngsters.

Plenty of hands-on exhibits also gave the children a chance to step out of their everyday experiences. Children crushed mint leaves with a stone mortar and pestle, to get a whiff of what smelled like their peppermint candies.

They also were able to try on clothes similar to those worn in the first century, and even play some games from Biblical times.

"It's pretty cool because then you see what Jesus did and went through and stuff, and it's like you're going back in time," said 11-year-old Skylar Winalis, while playing a board game with her friend Leanna Landin in the game room. "Some of the stuff they had we still have today."

Across the hall in the clothing room, youngsters were playing dress-up.

Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic Eleven-year-old Leanna Landin plays a board game with her friend Skylar Winalis in the Bible Times Museum game room.

Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic Vicki Wasylyshyn shows museum visitors a modern-era replica of a house people would have lived in during the first century in the Middle East.

"You get to see how other people dress compared to how you dress now," said Ian Balnaves, 12, who had just dressed up as a shepherd from Christ's time. "Our clothes are more modified. Theirs, back then, were just put together how they thought might cover them well."

Children were also given fun fact books, which they filled in while they visited the museum's various exhibits.

In all, about 250 families were able to traverse St. John Neumann's museum. The museum opened the weekend of Nov. 2-4, and was to have concluded Wednesday.