Our Lady of the Prairie by Damien Walker A Bishop on the Prairie In 2022, Bishop Chad Zielinski arrived in the Diocese of New Ulm, Minnesota, and did what bishops once did as a matter of course: he drove to the four corners of his territory to see the land and the people entrusted to him. He found 9,000 square miles of Midwestern prairie: wheat fields stretching to the horizon, silos and barns and small town parishes scattered along the Minnesota River. He saw in that flatnes

From a small studio in Rangiora, New Zealand, to the vast prairies of Minnesota, Our Lady of the Prairie is a powerful new Marian image created by Damien Walker for the Diocese of New Ulm. Commissioned as a symbol of hope and unity, this sacred painting now stands as a visual catechesis for generations to come.