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Janice Keller and her husband, Daniel "Toby" Keller, drove to Alabama from their home near River Falls, Wis., in 1999 to pay homage to the Blessed Sacrament and the Virgin Mary. On Thursday, they made a similar pilgrimage to La Crosse to celebrate the dedication of the first phase of the $25 million Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
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Bishop Burke shakes hands with people attending the dedication of the Pilgrim's Center and Our Lady of Good Counsel Votive Chapel as he leaves the chapel after blessing it.Dick Riniker photo |
"I said to my husband, if only we had something like this closer to home," Keller said Thursday, recalling that 1999 trip to Mother Angelica's Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Ala. "Now we have it."
Keller, who with her husband was among about 400 Diocese of La Crosse faithful in La Crosse on Thursday for the dedication of the shrine's Pilgrim Center and Our Lady of Good Counsel Votive Chapel, said she believes the facility will have an important impact on the spiritual renewal of the diocese and beyond.
"I think we need this," she said. "I think it's going to be our foundation in the future. Mary's going to lead the way in the future."
Bishop Raymond L. Burke led the prayer service and blessing ceremony, which started in the gallery of the Pilgrim's Center and concluded with an outdoor processional to the nearby votive chapel.
The event was timed to coincide with the annual Dec. 12 feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of the Americas who is believed by Catholics to have appeared near Mexico City in 1531 as an apparition to Juan Diego, a poor Indian peasant. A Mass of celebration also was held Thursday night in Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman in La Crosse.
Burke, noting that groundbreaking for the Pilgrim's Center occurred nearly 17 months ago in July 2001, said the completion of the two buildings is significant. But, he said, greater challenges are ahead as construction moves forward into the next phase, the building of the 350-seat blufftop shrine church, with an adjacent catechism retreat center and convent for contemplative sisters.
"The shrine is God's work and will only come to completion with his blessing," Burke said, speaking in English and Spanish, during his homily in the packed Pilgrim's Center gallery.
Burke asked people to continue to pray for the success of the project and to continue their financial support for it.
A temporary chapel has been set up in the large meeting room of the Pilgrim's Center. The facility also includes a gift shop, restrooms and a restaurant, with seating for 80 people.
The votive chapel, which is for private prayer, features three stained-glass windows depicting the Virgin Mary on each side. The focus of the interior is a 14-foot square, nine-tier tower of about 600 cobalt blue, glass votive candles which worshipers can light for personal prayer intentions. It is named for Our Lady of Good Counsel, patron saint of the La Crosse Diocesan Counsel of Catholic Women, a group which helped to finance it.
After the ceremonies, Burke admitted he still hears from critics who say the money for the shrine could be better spent helping the poor. He said he responds by saying that the shrine addresses what he sees as a greater need, that of spiritual poverty.
"I think when they come here and experience it as a place of prayer, their minds and hearts will change," he said of his critics.
The project, for which some $21 million in pledges and donations have been committed, is being built solely with private donations. Burke has said repeatedly that no diocesan funds are being used. A separate corporation has been set up to oversee the project and insure that no intermingling of funds occurs.
Jeanne Swing Pavela, whose family donated the 80-acre blufftop site between Hwy. MM and Justin Road in Mormon Coulee, said Thursday that the completion of the first phase of the project was a milestone.
She said it was gratifying to see the large turnout for the dedication.
"It shows that this is really needed, for all types of people, the rich, the poor," Pavela said. "It's for everybody."
