Sept. 20, 2003

The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 5250 Justin Road, La Crosse, has a new executive director.
Sister Christa Marie Halligan of the Franciscan Sisters of the Martyr St. George, an Alton, Ill.,-based religious community, will begin work Monday, Sept. 22, according to the Diocese of La Crosse newspaper, The Catholic Times.

Halligan succeeds Mary Margaret Lynch who resigned in May for personal reasons to return to her home state of Texas. Lynch, who came to the shrine in January, was the second executive director for the shrine, which opened in December 2002. The first director began work July 1, 2002, and resigned about five weeks later.

Halligan, who joined the Sisters of the Martyr St. George in 1996, since 1998 was vice president of human resources for St. Anthony's Health Center in Alton. She has bachelor's degrees in education and English from the University of Rhode Island and for eight years taught English literature at North Kingstown Senior High School in Rhode Island. She held several human resources management positions with GTE, now Verizon, from 1980 until entering religious life.

Andrew Brannon, the shrine's financial director, has served as acting director since Lynch's resignation.

The shrine is on Justin Road, off Hwy. 14/61 in Mormon Coulee. The property includes a Pilgrim's Center for visitors, which houses a restaurant, gift shop and chapel. The site also includes the Our Lady of Good Counsel Votive Chapel. A walking path is being constructed to the blufftop site where a church is planned. Groundbreaking for the church could begin as early as next year.