Holy apparition-loving shrines, Batman! According to The Huffington Post and Catholic.org, the Catholic Church has recognized the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wis. as an official apparition site of the Virgin Mary. The official announcement (download pdf) actually hit last December, when, after years of investigation and research, Green Bay Bishop David Ricken declared with “moral certainty” that the October 1859 appearances of the Virgin Mary to Belgian immigrant Adele Brise were true supernatural occurrences. Catholic.org says that:

 

Flashlight hands!

During each of the three apparitions near Champion (then Robinsonville), Wisconsin, a lady in shining white clothes appeared to Adele. The third time she identified herself as "the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners."

She went on to tell the 28 year-old woman, who lived with her family on a small homestead in northern part of the state, "I wish you to do the same."

 

This makes the Champion shrine one of only a dozen Vatican-approved apparition sites in the world and puts it on a list which includes such places as Guadalupe, Mexico and Lourdes, France. The Champion shrine is the only location on that list in the United States, and apparently there are already stories of healing miracles and fulfilled prayers surrounding the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. The only way to know for sure, I guess, is to check it out for yourself.