West Bend, WI – As the season approaches to put up the historic Amity Rolfs Nativity in front of Holy Angels Parish in West Bend, Wi, there’s going to be a change this year. According to organizers, the structure of the manger is showing too many signs of wear and tear and it’s time to be replaced. While the figures will stay, a new manger will be used, and the old one will be given away to whoever wants to provide a good home.
Below is a video of volunteers erecting the wooden manger. Turnbuckles and screws and weather, along with the weight of the hardwood make it challenging to put assemble.
Volunteer, John Butschlick said the rickety manger has been a concern the last five years.
“We have fewer volunteers willing to help put it up and the frame is like cheese with so many holes,” he said. “Rather than just have the city pick it up and put it through the woodchipper, we thought we’d offer it to someone in the community.”
The life-size nativity display, which will be on display in front of the church office on Eighth Avenue, is a holiday hallmark for West Bend. Originally brought to the community in the late 1960s by brothers Tom and Bob Rolfs, the pieces, handmade in Germany, were originally placed in front of the tower of the Amity building on Main Street.
The display was later relocated to the Amity Outlet on Highway 33; in 2007 it was in front of Westbury Bank on the corner of Main and Walnut Street, and eventually it spent a couple years on the triangle corner by Bits ‘n’ Pieces Floral.
In 2017 the nativity found a home at Old Settlers’ Park in downtown West Bend where the baby Jesus figure was stolen.
Parishioner Terry Vrana got a hold of the remnants of the figure and carved a new head for the baby Jesus and reattached the hands. Over the summer, Vrana dedicated his time to “growing closer to God.”
In those hours since January 2019, Vrana patched, plastered, and painted each figure and brought it back to its original glory.
In 2018 when the nativity was adopted into its final home at Holy Angels Parish, Rev. Heppe offered a blessing.
“The practice of erecting such mangers was a practice begun by Saint Francis of Assisi as a means to set forth the message of Christmas,” said Heppe. “When we look upon these figures, especially these historic figures, the Christmas Gospel comes alive, and we are moved to rejoice in the mysteries in the incarnation of the Son of God.”
Holy Angels has a different manger it will use moving forward.
If you would like to give the old wooden shelter a good home, contact John Butschlick at 262-334-0466. There are markings on the wood that provide instructions on how to assemble. There’s also the opportunity to repair some of the distressed pieces, however the parish said it does not want the manger back because of a lack of storage space.
