Michigan Area members participated in the 2025 Annual Pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, the site of the only Martian apparition in the United States approved by the Catholic Church.
Located in the farm country northeast of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the shrine and its retreat center are sited where Adele Brise, a young Belgian immigrant, encountered Our Lady while walking through the woods. The series of apparitions concluded with Our Lady directing Adele to “Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.” Adele began teaching local children their catechism and eventually gathered a community of women to teach and catechize children.

The National Shrine’s Apparition Oratory sits where Our Lady first appeared to Adele and where her father built a small chapel shortly after Our Lady’s appearances. In 1871, when the Great Peshtigo Fire threatened the chapel grounds, the place was miraculously spared, with the fire stopping at the chapel fence.

In 2010, following a lengthy investigation, The Most Rev. David L. Ricken, ChC, bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay, officially approved the 1859 apparitions. The shrine to Our Lady of Champion was designated a National Shrine by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2016.

Almost 200 members of the American, Federal, and Western Associations participated in the 12th Annual Pilgrimage. In keeping with the Jubilee Year of Hope declared by Pope Francis, the theme of this 12th annual pilgrimage was “Pilgrims of Hope.”

Representing the Michigan Area were Roseanne Brugnoni, DM; David Closs, KM; Noel Closs, DM; Diane Miller; Bill Somerville, KM; and his wife Mary Lou Somerville.

Bishop Ricken welcomed pilgrims at the opening Mass at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay. The three-day retreat included Mass at the Apparition Oratory, as well as an afternoon at the National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere, Wisconsin. The shrine is overseen by the Norbertine Community of St. Norbert Abbey. The visit included Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and a Eucharistic healing service conducted by Fr. Augustine Puchner, O.Praem, ChC. Fr. Puchner was the retreat master for the Michigan Area’s April 2025 annual retreat. See, “Michigan Area holds annual retreat with theme, ‘Church at Her Best.’”

The final day of the pilgrimage took place at the Champion shrine, with Rosary Procession, Mass with Anointing of the Sick, and Vigil Mass.

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