Posted on 08/02/2008 12:08:21 PM PDT by Pyro7480
A new chapter in the life of the... Catholic church in the Coulee Region begins today, the first day the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe is open to the public.
Nine years after Archbishop Raymond Burke, former bishop of the La Crosse Diocese, first announced plans for the shrine, he dedicated the church at a Mass on Thursday that lasted more than three hours. Now... the success of the shrine lies largely in how the public, locally and around the world, receives the site Burke calls a place of pilgrimage....
Corinne Dempsey, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, said that for a church leader like Burke to initiate the building of a shrine of pilgrimage is backwards.
Such shrines come from the people, she said, not authorities.
“Pilgrimage sites do not start from the top down, but from the bottom up,” said Dempsey.... “I don’t know how well central Wisconsin is set up for that kind of thing either. These kinds of pilgrimage sites are not typically a mainstream American phenomenon.”
...An anti-abortion culture is part of the shrine’s milieu.
A devotional area to the unborn is still being completed near the church, and anti-abortion bumper stickers could be seen on cars in the parking lot Thursday....
A small protest of 10 people from Pilgrims Covenant Church in Monroe, Wis., stood part of the morning just outside the shrine grounds, carrying signs that commanded Catholics to stop worshipping a pagan goddess.
“The things they’re saying about their lady of Guadalupe are completely unbiblical,” said the Rev. Ralph Ovadal, pastor of the 60-member church. “They give her attributes and power and authority that belong only to God.”
In his homily, Burke talked about Our Lady of Guadalupe as pointing the way to Christ....
(Excerpt) Read more at lacrossetribune.com ...
Check out the interactive gallery the LaCrosse Tribune has here!
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Erik Daily
Beautiful church!
Thanks for posting that. Nuestra Senora, ruega por nosotros.
She is beautiful and it makes me happy to see her recognized throughout the Americas.
Thank you for the post.
Beautiful!!
That’s beautiful! If I still lived in Wisconsin I’d have to go see it. For now, I’ll just enjoy the pictures. :0)
I went to the shrines website, as I could not understand how this could be a new building.
I spenmt 7 years in Germany and would swear the church interior, altar, pews, fittings, exterior, outdoor setting, landscape, stations of the cross, chapel, and meditation trail in these photos were located in Bavaria!
But they are not!
What an amazing project.
Well done.
What an amazing
Everything was just fine and dandy until...
A small protest of 10 people from Pilgrims Covenant Church in Monroe, Wis., stood part of the morning just outside the shrine grounds, carrying signs that commanded Catholics to stop worshipping a pagan goddess.
“The things they’re saying about their lady of Guadalupe are completely unbiblical,” said the Rev. Ralph Ovadal, pastor of the 60-member church. “They give her attributes and power and authority that belong only to God.”
Pastor, if you can only gather 60 sheep after years of preaching then you might have other things to worry about than whatever Catholics may or may not be doing.
If you want a bit of Catholic Bavaria in Wisconsin the place to go is St. Mary’s Oratory in Wausau which, when refurbished a few years ago, was done over in 15th century Bavarian style. The Oratory is used by the Institute of Christ the King: http://institute-christ-king.org/wausau/Consecration-of-church.cfm
On a side note, I was just listening to Father Corapi on EWTN. He said that during the election of 1999, when the whole country was waiting to find out who won the presidential election, a man’s wife asked him to go to HER country to pray. While there, the man dedicated his brother’s service to his country to Our Lady of Guadalupe. On the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Supreme Court of the United States announced that his brother, George Bush, was the elected President.
I remember hearing about Jeb Bush going to Mexico City to see Our Lady on his brother’s behalf.
John McCain went to the same Basilica in Mexico City, along with his wife Cindy, Joseph Liberman, and Jeb Bush a few weeks ago. I think there is a thread about it.
Glad to see the crucifix in the larger view.
I wasn't getting the point of the “Lady of Guadalupe” shrine until I took the tour and put it in the larger context.
The stations of the cross section is awesome.
Bad case of religious constipation.
Truly a beautiful church. I don’t care for the Guadalupe image, however.
...election of 1999....
**
I think you mean 2000.
You mean in general, or that specific one?
In general. Too garish for me. But I also don’t like Russian iconography.
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