Posted on 08/15/2016 8:44:44 PM PDT by Coleus
BROWN COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY) – A major announcement Monday for the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay: The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion was officially designated a National Shrine.
Bishop David Ricken announced the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help is now designated a national shrine by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as hundreds of pilgrims arrived for the annual August 15 mass celebrating the Solemnity of the Assumption.
“We have the unique distinction of being the only place in the United States of America that has an officially approved apparition of the Blessed Mother to one of our faithful,” Ricken said.
For a shrine to receive a national designation, it must first be designated as a diocesan shrine, which occurred in 2010 when Bishop Ricken granted formal church approval to the Marian apparition that occurred at Champion in 1859.
Since then, the shrine has attracted more than 100,000 visitors a year — and the numbers are growing.
“It’s that encounter with God, that encounter with their faith, the ability to strengthen their faith and if they come with their worries, their troubles, and they are able to experience that peace, that contentment here,” Father John Broussard, the shrine rector, said.
Even before the national designation, shrine attendance is up 28 percent this year.
By becoming a national shrine, larger crowds are expected in the future.
To create a better experience for visitors, the diocese has made a number of upgrades at the shrine, including a welcome center, air-conditioning in the chapel, and disabled access to the lower oratory and around the Stations of the Cross.
“And it makes it much easier for us to tell the story to other parts of our country and to the world, we have people coming from other countries, too,” the bishop said.
to the best of my knowledge, this is the only apparition approved in the USA. Our Lady of Good Help, Pray for Us!!
to the best of my knowledge, this is the only apparition approved in the USA
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How funny, I just had lunch with a friend today, and he said our former parish priest, Fr. Dave, who is retired, is now a priest at this shrine!
Thanks for the post! I will be there in October for the observation of the great miracle during the Peshtigo fire, which will be an all-night adoration of the Eucharist, and the next morning the Mass with the bishop. My ancestors share these Belgium farm roots with Adele Brieze.
Please God, be with the Catholic faithful and citizens of WI who were hit witih rioting in the Milwalkee City area this past weekend.
Our Lady of Good Help, Pray for Us! Amen.
Amazing.
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