By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
After a two year investigation by some of the world’s top Marian theologians, Bishop David L. Ricken of the diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin has approved Marian apparitions seen by Adele Brise in 1859. 
According to the Catholic News Service (CNS), Bishop Ricken made the announcement during Mass yesterday at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. He read the official decree on the authenticity of the apparitions along with a second decree approving the site as a diocesan shrine.
Adele Brise, a Belgian immigrant, was 28 when Mary appeared to her three times in October 1859. The first appearance took place while Brise was carrying a sack of wheat to a grist mill about four miles from Robinsonville, now known as Champion, Wisconsin. A few days later, Mary appeared to her again and this time, Brise’s pastor told her to “ask in God’s name who it was and what it desired of her.”
The next time Mary appeared to her, Brise asked who she was.
“I am the Queen of Heaven, who prays for the conversion of sinners and I wish you to do the same,” Our Lady replied.
Mary went on to instruct Brise to “gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation. Teach them their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the cross and how to approach the sacraments.”
Brise devoted the rest of her life to this task, beginning a community of Third Order Franciscan sisters and building a school next to the shrine. Brise’s father built a small chapel to mark the site, with the altar placed over the actual spot where Mary appeared. This chapel was eventually dedicated in 1942 under the title of Our Lady of Good Help and now receives thousands of visitors every year.
Brise died on July 5, 1896, and is buried in a small cemetery near the chapel.
Father Doerfler, who serves as the shrine’s rector, said official recognition of the apparitions affirms “the mystery of God’s providence.”
“He has had the Blessed Virgin Mary appear here. I do not know the reasons why,” he told The Compass, Green Bay diocesan newspaper. “All of this … has to do with God’s plan to bring people to salvation through his son Jesus Christ.”
Karen Tipps, who has been a volunteer and caretaker of the shrine with her husband Steve for 18 years, told The Compass that Bishop Ricken’s decree “is the fulfillment of everything we’ve worked for: to make the shrine a beautiful place of pilgrimage; to try and promote the message of what happened here.”
Because of the current crisis in catechesis, she believes Mary’s message to Adele is as timely now as it was in 1859.
” . . . (T)his message is meant for this time in history,” she told The Compass. “If you look at the state of our children right now, there’s no hope. There’s no faith. There’s nothing to live for.”
She added: “The message (given to Adele Brise) is, ‘Gather the children. Teach them their catechism. Teach them their faith. We need to do that. … We’re not giving them the substance of their faith. So I think that’s why it is happening at this time in history. That’s why Bishop Ricken was brought here. I think it’s a divine plan that this needed to come to fulfillment now for the world to get this message.”
She expects the number of visitors to grow now that the apparitions have finally been approved. “It’s been such a quiet place. But now it’s for the world to be able to share … what we’ve had here and what we’ve experienced for the last 150 years.”
To read more about the apparitions, visit http://www.shrineofourladyofgoodhelp.com/
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