June 19, 2001

For the second time in less than a month, rainy weather has forced the Diocese of La Crosse to postpone the groundbreaking ceremony for the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
"The difficulty is getting the access road completed," Julie Hogan, administrator for the shrine project, said Monday.

Hogan said the groundbreaking, which was scheduled for June 22, can't be held until buses can get into the area to bring people to the site of the planned visitor's center, off Justin Road, along Hwy. 14-61, in Mormon Coulee.

The groundbreaking was initially scheduled for May 30, but was postponed to June 22, after heavy rains in May made the site too muddy for road construction. Hogan said a new date for the groundbreaking will be set once the road is completed.

The lack of a road also is holding up any other work on the site, Hogan said. "The contractors can't get in until the road is in."

Hogan said the weather is impacting all types of outdoor projects. "I've talked to painters who can't paint, landscapers who can't landscape," she said.

The delay is disappointing, Hogan said. "We're disappointed obviously because we want to do a nice job for people, they're so enthusiastic about it."

The groundbreaking is for the first phase of the $25 million project, planned to honor the Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America. The first phase includes a Pilgrim's Center and parking area, plus a small chapel.

A 350-seat church, catechism center, rectory, convent and area for outdoor Masses are planned for the second phase of the project. Those buildings are to be built at the top of the bluff on the 80-acre site, which is between Justin Road and County MM.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is said to have first appeared in a poor Indian peasant, Juan Diego, in 1531 in Mexico City. She became the patron saint of Mexico. There is a modern basilica honoring her on the site in Mexico City where she is said to have appeared to Diego.