USAToday: Virgin Mary shrine in Wis. surprised by soaring attendance

Not said by His Excellency: "Dude, it's fer real!  Totally!"

Tipps estimates visits have grown tenfold, growing from an average 75 to 100 visitors a day to between 500 to 800, including daily bus tours. Similar in traffic, she said, to what used to be one of the busiest days of the year, the Catholic Feast of the Assumption on Aug. 15.

"It was kind of an eye-opener. It was like Aug. 15, every day for seven days straight," Tipps said. "Our whole classification of what normal is has changed."

The shrine will even be featured in a July 13 prime-time ABC "Nightline" documentary that examines the Virgin Mary as a religious icon and visits apparition sites around the world.

The sudden and dramatic intrigue has forced the diocese to play catch-up, adding staff, volunteers and amenities to the small but swamped chapel and beginning to plan for future growth and possible expansion to the site.

"The turnout has been incredible," said Ricken . "It's been a wonderful gift to the diocese. So many people are coming, and there are all kinds of reports of answered prayers and healings continuing."

A pleasant problem

Ricken admits the diocese wasn't prepared initially for the onslaught of visitors to the 5.5-acre site, but he's responded to what he called "a good problem" by adding two staff members to the chapel, recruiting two priests to serve in permanent posts, constructing additional restrooms that open this week and training a corps of about 100 volunteers.

"It's kind of overwhelming for the people we have now. —1/8 I didn't think it would take off this fast," Ricken said. "I think the biggest challenge is going to be keeping up with whatever the Blessed Mother does. However she chooses to use this place, we are going to be running to catch up most of the time. But what a pleasant problem to have."

Although 150 years old, the Our Lady of Good Help shrine had been relatively unknown outside of Northeastern Wisconsin before December.

"We don't want to become a kind of a circus or something, so we have to guard against that —1/8 we're going to do the best we can to make sure we preserve the beauty and simplicity of that shrine," Ricken said.

"On the other hand, we don't want to keep people away, because there are crowds coming."

"God loves us, and he's almost desperate to communicate his love for us. And he does it through the Blessed Mother and through many other means," Ricken said

whole article at USA Today