July 27, 2008 — When the Rev. Derek Sakowski visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, he learned some Mexican pilgrims had walked for a week to get there.

Now the Stevens Point, Wis., priest is making his own walking pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse and is due to arrive Wednesday.
The Shrine Church, centerpiece of the bluff-area site off Hwy. 14/61, will be dedicated by founder Archbishop Raymond L. Burke at a Mass on Thursday.

The ceremony, not open to the public, is the pinnacle of a week of events at the Shrine running from Monday through Sunday.

“It’s the kind of thing that gives people inspiration for centuries to come,” Sakowski said of the Shrine as he breathed heavily and walked through Biron, Wis., on Friday.

Jack Socha, manager of external communications for the Shrine, said he expects well-known Catholic figures from around the nation to attend the dedication Mass.

Medical teams will be scattered throughout the grounds during the week, and 150 volunteers have been enlisted to help.

“The phones are ringing off the hook with a million different questions,” Socha said Saturday. “But overall, we’re enjoying seeing all the pieces fit together.”

Ground was broken on the 103-acre property in 2001. Since then, the Pilgrim Center, the Votive Candle Chapel, an outdoor Stations of the Cross, the Rosary Walk and other sites have opened along a meditation trail leading up to the Shrine Church, on which ground was broken in May 2004.

Other sites will also be dedicated on the grounds this week.

The project is the vision of Burke, who was bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse before being named archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 2003.

“A shrine is for pilgrimage,” Burke said. “Through pilgrimage, God reveals to us his love. He lets us see again the extraordinary nature of our ordinary daily life.”

Earlier this month, Burke was appointed to the Vatican’s supreme court and will move overseas after the dedication. He said he should be able to get to the shrine a couple times a year after that.

Joe Orso can be reached at (608) 791-8429 or jorso@lacrossetribune.com.