Archbishop Burke dedicates church at Guadalupe shrine in Wisconsin

By Franz Klein
Catholic News Service

LA CROSSE, Wis. (CNS) -- Archbishop Raymond L. Burke led the July 31 dedication of the church at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, a pilgrimage site that is the fruition of "a deep conviction" he said he had as a priest and later as La Crosse's bishop.

In all, 26 bishops, including Cardinals Francis E. George of Chicago and Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, gathered with a crowd of nearly 1,000 priests, consecrated religious and lay faithful at the church.

Those who were not among the 450 people accommodated by the pews and overflow seating in the upper church crowded into the church's lower level to watch the Mass on television.

Nestled in the scenic bluffs just south of La Crosse, the shrine complex -- including a pilgrim center, a votive candle chapel and several devotional areas -- has been under construction since 2001. An additional catechetical center and convent for contemplative nuns are planned.

Assisting Archbishop Burke in consecrating the altar and the walls of the church with sacred chrism were La Crosse Bishop Jerome E. Listecki, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of Milwaukee and Bishop Allen H. Vigneron of Oakland, Calif., a former member of the shrine's board of directors.

Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City was unable to attend, but he sent statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego for the church. He also sent a rock from Tepeyac Hill, where Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego.

In a July 31 interview with The Catholic Times, the La Crosse diocesan newspaper, Archbishop Burke said that as a young priest and bishop he became convinced that a place of pilgrimage was necessary to combat the "lack of a sense of sin" he encountered in his ministry, as well as the "lack of belief in the teaching authority of the church and in sacramental life in general."

Without these elements, devotion fades and people stop believing, said the archbishop, the newly named prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature at the Vatican.

Ground was broken in May 2004 for the large Romanesque church at the heart of the shrine in a ceremony led by Archbishop Burke, then head of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. He was bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse from 1995 to 2003.

Archbishop Burke, who grew up in the La Crosse Diocese in the small towns of Richland Center and Stratford, returned to his native diocese July 28 for a week of events at the shrine that culminated in the July 31 dedication Mass.

While some people in the area opposed the archbishop's vision, others were enthusiastic about a major place of pilgrimage, not only for local Catholics but for others as well.

The shrine complex, valued at more than $25 million, saw 50,000 visitors last year. Benefactors and pilgrims are from throughout the United States.

Dave Clements, executive director of the La Crosse Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, told The Catholic Times that the shrine could receive 200,000 visitors a year by 2010 or 2011. "I think, by the end of 2010, you could see a $6 (million) to $8 million economic impact on the area," he said.

Archbishop Burke is convinced Our Lady of Guadalupe should be central to the spiritual life of all Catholics, not just Latin American Catholics, who have a deep devotion to her.

"She made it very clear when she appeared to St. Juan Diego that she was coming for all the children of America," he said. "I'm deeply convinced that she will draw all of America together in one unity."

During his homily at the dedication Mass, which he delivered in both English and Spanish, the archbishop said Mary creates this unity by drawing everyone closer to her son.

"She teaches pilgrims the truth that in Jesus Christ alone we find our salvation, the truth that Jesus Christ, by his continued presence in the church, gives to St. Peter and to his successors the keys of the kingdom of heaven for the sake of the salvation of all mankind," he said.

True spiritual unity, therefore, is found in the church and is effected through the sacraments celebrated within a church building like the one about to be dedicated, the archbishop said.

"Through his eucharistic sacrifice, God's Son will dwell with us here in the most wonderful way of all, in his body and blood, soul and divinity offered and poured out for us on Calvary," Archbishop Burke said.

"The altar of sacrifice represents for us the deepest meaning of our lives, the truth which we seek and find on pilgrimage," he continued. "Because we are united to Christ in the eucharistic sacrifice, we in turn become altars of sacrifice with him, offering our lives totally for love of God and of our neighbor. We are called to offer our lives as a pure and holy sacrifice."

Archbishop Burke alluded to the statues and paintings that adorn the church's side altars -- the work of Philadelphia artist Anthony Visco -- and the gilded dome and the marble columns that support the 27-foot baldacchino above the high altar -- the work of Duncan Stroik, one of the project's lead architects, of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

"The beauty of this church inspires us to the even greater beauty of a holy life lived in Christ," he said.