New Priest, Deacon at Good Help Shrine

National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wis. recently welcomed Father Thomas Reagan, CPM, as Chaplain and Deacon Greg Rotherham to the Shrine community. Father Reagan and Deacon Rotherham join Father John Broussard, CPM, rector and Father George McInnis, CPM, chaplain, in serving the pilgrims who visit the Shrine.

“It’s a blessing to be able to be part of the work here at Champion Shrine,” Father Reagan said. “I look forward to sharing the many gifts I have received from God with the thousands of pilgrims who come to the Shrine each year for prayer, reflection and healing.”

Father Reagan grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and Cincinnati, graduated from Purdue University and worked for IBM as an engineer and project manager. He then received his Master’s in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Father Reagan joined the Fathers of Mercy in 2011, attended Holy Apostles Seminary and Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary before being ordained to the priesthood in 2016. He most recently served as parochial vicar at St. Helen Parish and Our Lady of the Caves Parish in Central Kentucky.

Deacon Rotherham is long-time Green Bay area resident who is president of The Elite Group, a De Pere-based marketing company. Rotherham has long been active at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Agnes parishes and is currently a member of St. Francis Xavier Cathedral Parish. He was ordained as a deacon in May, 2018.

It's amazing that the Guadalupe Shrine in La Crosse still only has two priests in residence, considering the Good Help Shrine now has three. 

Fathers of Mercy arrive at Good Help Shrine

With record crowds descending upon the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, two religious order priests now assigned to the diocesan shrine are tending to the visitors' spiritual needs.

Fr. Peter Stryker and Fr. Jewel Aytona, members of the Fathers of Mercy religious congregation based in Auburn, Kent., arrived in Champion July 7 at the request of Bishop David Ricken.

Following the Dec. 8, 2010, declaration that the Marian apparitions to Adele Brise in 1859 were worthy of belief, Bishop Ricken began making plans to find a religious community of priests to staff the shrine. Bishop Ricken chose the Fathers of Mercy because their congregation's apostolate matches the shrine's historic mission: to preach and catechize, said Fr. John Doerfler, chancellor and vicar general of the diocese.

Bishop Ricken became acquainted with the Fathers of Mercy several years ago when he led a retreat for members of the congregation, added Fr. Doerfler. The congregation's superior general, Fr. David Wilton, met with Bishop Ricken earlier this year and agreed to send two priests to staff the shrine

continue at The Compass

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Two Fathers of Mercy from Auburn, Ky., will begin serving on July 7, 2011, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Bishop David Ricken announced. One priest will serve as the Shrine's rector and the other as chaplain.

The two priests will serve pilgrims to the Shrine by offering Masses, hearing confessions, and performing other priestly duties as needed.

Consecrated to Mary

"It is fitting that the Fathers of Mercy will be in residence at the Shrine, as their members consecrate themselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary every year on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th," Bishop Ricken said. "Placing themselves under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, they profess their final/perpetual vows on August 15th, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and they try to schedule all of their ordinations on a Marian feast day."

Founded in France

The Fathers of Mercy were founded in France in 1808 by Fr. Jean Baptiste Rauzan at the invitation of Cardinal Joseph Fesch of Lyons in response to the upheaval and persecution the Church suffered during the French Revolution.

Since their founding, the primary apostolate of the Fathers of Mercy is to preach parish missions and retreats, with an emphasis on the Eucharist and confession.
The Fathers of Mercy have served in the United States since 1839.

Diocese of Green Bay