CV NEWS FEED // Cardinal Raymond Burke has released his new book, The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, made available for order on October 7, the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary.
According to an October 7 email from Cardinal Burke, writing the book was a source of “great joy.” He said:
[I]n its pages, I explain my own history and experience growing up in Wisconsin in a devout Catholic family, attending seminary during the Second Vatican Council, and experiencing the radical change in the daily life of the Church afterward, specifically in what regards the devotional life of families.
In an excerpt of his book shared by The Imaginative Conservative, Cardinal Burke wrote that in visiting the homes of his parishioners in La Crosse, Wisconsin, after he was ordained, he was distressed to discover that families no longer kept sacred objects in their homes and had stopped praying the Rosary or even praying before or after meals.
After being appointed the Bishop of La Crosse in 1995, Cardinal Burke “became more and more convinced of the need for a place of pilgrimage.” He added that there must be “a place in the Diocese to which the faithful might come at any time, but especially in times of special joy and of special need to be renewed in faith and grace.”
He began the construction of a Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, which has since become a major pilgrimage site.
As reported by CatholicVote, Cardinal Burke urged the faithful to join in a nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Americas, in prayer for the United States. The novena will conclude with a consecration on December 12, 2024, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
According to the Cardinal, his book The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe serves as “testimony to the great spiritual need for the Shrine as it is manifest in the lives of some 100,000 pilgrims who come each year on pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at La Crosse, Wisconsin.”
Cardinal Burke hosted a signing of his new book at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe on October 7, the shrine’s website shared.