The Jubilee Year and a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion – Catholic World Report

Jubilee Years in the Catholic Church are exciting events. Traditionally occurring every 25 years, each Jubilee Year “is a year of forgiveness of sins and also the punishment due to sin [and] a year of reconciliation between adversaries, of conversion and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and consequently of solidarity, hope, justice, commitment to serve God with joy and in peace with our brothers and sisters.”

Jubilee Years offer us time to slow down, focus on God, renounce our sins, and look at the world around us with God’s eyes so that we can build a culture of life in the light of eternal life.

While millions of pilgrims are traveling to Rome this year to celebrate, people are invited to celebrate here in America at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin, as it has been designated a Jubilee Site.

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion is the only place in the United States that is a Church-approved Marian apparition site.

On October 9, 1859, our Blessed Mother appeared to a Belgian immigrant named Adele Brise. Mary identified herself as “the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners.”

Today, the shrine continues the mission of Adele “to foster conversion, teach the children, and minister to the sick and old.”

Walk to Mary

Fr. Tony Stephens, CPM, the shrine’s rector, spoke of the many wonderful events occurring at the shrine this year, beginning May 3 with the Walk to Mary. The 22-mile walk begins at the National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere and ends at Our Lady of Champion.

They are expecting that over 7,000 people will participate, and that number continues to grow.

Fr. Tony said that this short pilgrimage gives people a “small taste of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land,” as it’s a “little snapshot of our journey through life,” just as we walk daily to heaven.

He explained that, if 22 miles is not doable, there are a couple of join-in points that allow pilgrims to walk shorter distances (15 or seven miles), and there’s even a children’s walk of just 1.7 miles that loops around the grounds of the shrine.

As pilgrims walk, they can sing, pray, and contemplate the life and gifts of Jesus and Mary. Once they arrive at the shrine, they can walk the grounds, attend Mass or confession, and spend quiet time in prayer.

Make a pilgrimage

A pilgrimage is a great gift given to us by God to help us grow closer to Him so that, afterward, we can use the graces we receive to go out into the world to evangelize, tell of His goodness, and draw others to Him.

Father Tony points to the simplicity and quietness of the shrine and encourages people to visit and just sit in quiet contemplation, listening to Mary’s motherly advice. He explained, “I think she really can restore hope if we listen.”

The shrine offers confessions, Adoration, the recitation of the Rosary, and Mass every day of the week. All of these things, said Father Tony, “can be a reset to reestablish hope.”

During this Jubilee Year, Catholics are eligible to receive a plenary indulgence—a remission from temporal punishment for sin—for visiting the shrine and following a few simple guidelines.

As the shrine’s site explains, “An indulgence is a powerful gift to the souls of believers. Indulgences aid in healing the brokenness caused by our sins in this world and reduce or completely eliminate the temporal punishment due to our sins. Indulgences are either partial or plenary (complete), and may be obtained for oneself or for the souls of the deceased.”

Father Tony explained that everyone who seeks this indulgence must rid themselves of the willful attachment to sin. While making the pilgrimage to Our Lady of Champion, they must also do the following:

• Make a Profession of Faith (Nicene Creed or Apostles Creed)
• Pray for the Holy Father’s intentions for the Church and the World by reciting the Our Father
• Receive the Holy Eucharist
• Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (can be done 20 days before or after the other acts)

Life is a pilgrimage

While pilgrimages are solemn events that help us focus on God and His love and that encourage us to strengthen our faith, they can also be very fun. One of the ways the shrine helps make it fun is by offering a Pilgrim Passport—a free booklet that was created to familiarize pilgrims with the three major Marian shrines in Wisconsin: the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, the Basilica and National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Hubertus, and the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse.

Father Tony reminds us that “life is a pilgrimage, and we need these significant stops along the way to help us.” He encouraged pilgrims to spend a day at each shrine and to sit quietly with the Lord without rushing. He advised, “Give yourself time. Don’t try to do all three pilgrimage sites in a day.”

He suggested that pilgrims go to Mass and confession and then sit and listen to the Lord and Mary, as it is only in our silence that we can open ourselves up to them. During these quiet times, we should entrust ourselves to Mary and ask her to help us get rid of our willful attachment to sin.

Father Tony explained that the shrine is truly a remarkable place, where he sees “God at work in people’s lives as they repent of their sins and their desire for union with God.” He said that when he speaks to pilgrims or hears confessions, he can tell that they desire a closeness with God and want to eliminate all obstacles in their relationship with Him.

Yet he said that one of the most remarkable things about the shrine is the sweet love and devotion that people have for Mary. He explained that there is a statue of Our Lady Queen of Heaven in the basement oratory, and on almost a daily basis, someone will lay a bouquet of roses or other flowers at her feet. This obvious love and gratitude for our Blessed Mother is made manifest in a fragrant, sweet smell of flowers.

Just as the flowers at the foot of the statue of Mary are fragrant gifts to her, we can make our lives a fragrant gift by the way we care for others and the way we live our faith. During this Jubilee Year when we are called to be Pilgrims of Hope, let us rejoice at the great gift of our Lord and His mother, and for the times when Mary has appeared in places such as Champion, Wisconsin. She is a tangible reminder of the hope God wants us to have in Him.

Our lives must then be tangible proof that He lives within us so we can build the kingdom of heaven on earth as we too follow Adele’s mission “to foster conversion, teach the children, and minister to the sick and old.”

• For more information about the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, visit its website. You can also join its Shepherd Project to pray daily for bishops starting May 1.