December, 2023 - Our Lady Patroness of America Center

2023 Year in Review

December 19, 2023

2023 came with an abundance of graces and a whole lot of fun at the Our Lady, Patroness of America Center! We want to take a moment to share all the great blessings and highlight some events that made 2023 one for the books!

One of the greatest joys of our mission is welcoming our pilgrims. This year we welcomed more pilgrims than ever! We love to see generations and people from all different states and countries receiving the devotion of Our Lady of America. We expanded our outreach this year: welcoming school children on field trips, hosting some religious sisters, hosting parishes in the diocese, hosting retreats like the Flame of Love Conference and the Divine Will Conference, and having our first exhibit table at the Investiture for the Knights of Holy Sepulchre (read more about that here). We also had the joy of hosting some larger events which you can read about below!

Youth pilgrims visit from Saint Louis Academy

A group of homeschool students enjoy a pilgrimage together

Terry representing our exhibit table at the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher Conference in Fort Wayne

Al and Terry Langsenkamp attending the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher Conference in Fort Wayne

Diocesan Scouts group inside the Oratory of the Holy Family

Diocesan Scouts campsite on the south lawn of the Our Lady, Patroness of America Center

Pilgrims from Saint Joseph Church in LaGrange

Marian procession during the Divine Will Conference

The highlight of the year was when Bishop Kevin Rhoades returned to dedicate the Altar of Sacrifice, which was damaged just before the 2022 blessing and renaming of the chapel.
You can read more about the day and watch the livestream here.

Bishop Rhoades consecrating the new altar

Bishop Rhoades and visiting clergy celebrating Mass at the new altar

Fellowship and celebration following Bishop's Mass

As the Church continues its Eucharistic Revival focusing on parish revival in 2023, we were blessed to host Saint Gaspar parish for their Corpus Christi procession. Parishioners walked a little over half a mile from Saint Gaspar to the Oratory of the Holy Family following the Blessed Sacrament carried by their pastor and our chaplain, Father Louis Fowoyo.

Parishioners of Saint Gaspar walking along highway 9 in a Eucharistic procession

Parishioners of Saint Gaspar Catholic Church join the procession

The Eucharistic procession reaches the Our Lady, Patroness of America Center

Once the procession reached the Oratory there was a brief period of Eucharistic Adoration

We continued hosting our First Saturday Masses every month, and added a Friday night rosary this year as well. Every Friday night, pilgrims gather to pray all twenty mysteries of the Holy Rosary. We also added First Friday devotions during the warmer months this year including a few Masses. The First Friday and First Saturday devotions are a vital part of our life here at the center.

Pilgrims walk to Holy Family Hill to begin Friday night Rosary

Pilgrims pray the Rosary on Friday night on Holy Family Hill

Father David Langford celebrates First Saturday Mass in the Oratory

In September, we held our Second Annual Walking Pilgrimage to honor the 67th anniversary of the start of the devotion to Our Lady, the Immaculate Virgin, Patroness of America. This is quickly becoming an annual favorite amongst pilgrims. You can read more about our beautiful day together here.

Pilgrims bring flowers to present to Our Lady of America

Many renovation projects have been underway in 2023, with many more still to come. For 2024 we are looking to complete projects like restoring the nun’s chapel and the Bishop’s suite, finishing the new vesting room and the attached bathroom, making the former vesting room into a Eucharistic chapel, and adding HVAC to the rooms that have been restored this year.

We also have begun the early stages of design for the sanctuary wall, thanks to the guidance of Bishop Rhoades. A long term goal is also to add a convocation center to host larger events and free the Oratory for prayer and Sacraments.

New altar of sacrifice in the Oratory of the Holy Family

New ambo at the Oratory of the Holy Family

Three new confessionals inside the Oratory of the Holy Family

Former vesting room and future Eucharistic chapel

Bishop's suite renovations and meeting space

Renovations being done inside the nun's chapel

We have had a glorious Advent and Christmas season at the Oratory. At the end of November, we hosted an open house as part of Lakeside Holidays in Rome City. It was amazing to hear people share their own memories and stories of our campus. We welcomed many pilgrims who had never been before or hadn’t seen all the many renovations!

At the beginning of December, we hosted Lessons and Carols to prepare our hearts for the Advent and Christmas seasons. Lessons and Carols is a great tradition of walking through salvation history via Scripture and song. Our choir did a stunning job!

One of many Christmas trees that decorate the center during the Christmas season

The Festival of Lessons and Carols was led by this stunning choir. We are so grateful for them!

Parishioners from nearby parishes gathered together to form one incredible choir

And so concluded another incredibly grace-filled and fruitful year at Our Lady, Patroness of America Center! We wait with expectant hope for the coming of our Savior, and for more of His goodness and blessings in 2024.

To read more about our future plans click here, and to support us in this mission click here.

Annual Fundraising Appeal 2-for-1 Match!

December 12, 2023

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UPDATE: Annual Appeal - 2-for-1 Match

WE MET OUR GOAL – AND THEN SOME!

We express our great appreciation and thanks to the many donors who helped us meet our fundraising goal for 2024. We exceeded the level needed to receive the entire $300,000 2-for-1 match from our Board. Even though the match was exceeded, the board has agreed to match 2-for-1 all donations made during the match period.

The generosity of our benefactors and board is so encouraging as we work to make known Our Lady’s great gift for America. Let us lead the world to peace with Our Lady, the Immaculate Virgin, Patroness of America, showing us the way. She brings us to the one true Peace, her Son.

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

So much has happened in 2023 here at the Our Lady, Patroness of America Center; it seems like a blur.

The highlight of the year was when Bishop Kevin Rhoades returned to dedicate the Altar of Sacrifice, which was damaged just before the 2022 blessing and renaming of the chapel.

In addition to Bishop Rhoades’s involvement and presence, we received a gift from Heaven. The gift is a deeper understanding of Heaven’s hope for America and how it will play out if we say YES and cooperate with Our Lady’s love for us, her children. Heaven has a very simple yet powerful plan to convert America and bring us the Peace of Christ. The week of Thanksgiving, I had the awesome privilege to discuss this with Bishop Rhoades. He affirmed my understanding of the gift and encouraged me to go deeper in understanding Heaven’s plan for America and to strive to bring her invitation to all who will hear.

What Heaven wants for the United States of America is not unprecedented. In December of 1531, Our Lady came to St. Juan Diego near Mexico City. As a result of the simple yet powerful Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, millions are converted to the Catholic Faith. Her impact is enduring to this day, almost 500 years later.

Does Our Lady have another Guadalupe Intercession in store for America? I believe she does.

But it is dependent on our cooperation with God’s Grace.

It is the work of the Our Lady, Patroness of America Center, to bring Our Lady’s invitation to America. And to encourage a resounding YES to our Lady’s request that we cooperate by following her plan to bring the Peace of Christ to the World. It has just two requirements on our part: always seek to do God’s will in our lives and remain in a state of Sanctifying Grace through the pursuit of virtue and frequenting the Sacraments. With this, she will work miracles of conversion.

Our Lady’s invitation to America is not well known. How can anyone say YES to an invitation that is never received? The invitation needs to be clear, concise, and inviting. It also needs to be inspiring. If we can make her invitation known in a way that inspires an ardent YES, then the Center has fulfilled its mission.

In 2024, we hope to bring more energy and resources to that work. To understand what is next, please see the report to our stakeholders, “PREPARING FOR WHAT’S NEXT.”

Once you have read the report, I hope you see that there is so much work to be done. And we need resources to accomplish it. I am pleased to report that, once again, our very generous and engaged Board of Directors will match 2-for-1 all gifts through March 31, 2024. For example, if you give $100, the board adds $200, providing $300 for our Mission. It adds up quickly. The board has committed up to $300,000 in matching funds. Even small gifts take on extra significance!

Will you join our Board of Directors to spread Our Lady’s Invitation?

Please pray and discern your role. We need your prayers and for you to spread the invitation to friends and family. If you can contribute financially, here is how you can help.

Please make checks payable to the Mother of Mercy Foundation, Inc., which owns and operates the Our Lady, Patroness of America Center and the Oratory of The Holy Family. The Foundation is a 501(c)3 Public Charity; donations are tax-deductible.

Mother of Mercy Foundation, Inc.

2730 E. Northport Road,

Rome City, IN 46784

Federal ID: 47-3185231

We qualify for donations made from donor-advised funds and, In most cases, qualify for employer-matching contributions. All will be matched. If you have any questions, please call our office or email office@PatronessOfAmerica.org.

To give online, please go to our donor page at www.PatronessOfAmerica.org/Donate.

May Our Lady, the Immaculate Virgin, Patroness of America, bless you abundantly!

Exciting Plans Ahead for the Center

December 11, 2023

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Report to Pilgrims, Volunteers, Patrons, Friends, and Family.

2023 has been a year of growth at the Our Lady, Patroness of America Center. Pilgrim visits are up 40+ percent, and the email list has nearly doubled over 2022. The mission is growing, and we are blessed!

And we are encouraged, especially considering that pilgrims are the number 1 focus at the center. We treat each pilgrim as if God sent them; I believe it is true. Each pilgrim is a gift! It affirms that Our Lady wants all of us, her children, to participate with her in bringing souls to Jesus Christ.

Second Annual Pilgrim Walk - Celebrating the Anniversary of Our Lady of America

Pilgrims walk the Fishing Line Trail, bringing Our Lady of America to the Oratory of the Holy Family.

Feast of Corpus Christi Procession

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This year has also been a banner year in other ways. Our volunteer corps continues to grow, with many taking on specific aspects of our mission. Since we only have two full-time paid staff members, the volunteers bring specific talents, pick up the slack, and further stretch our donors’ generous contributions. My wife, Terry, and I are among the volunteers dedicated to Our Lady’s mission in Rome City.

Over the last year, Our Lady’s mission for us has become more focused. This was done through Adoration, prayer, reading, and interaction with pilgrims, particularly with our clergy. And in one most important way…

Our Bishop, Kevin C. Rhoades (Diocese of Fort Wayne – South Bend), has been even more engaged in helping us to understand and fulfill Our Lady’s plan. I was graced to meet with him and Fr. Mark Gurtner, V.G., on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. From that meeting came greater clarity concerning the Center and how our mission should be accomplished. Frankly, I was a little overwhelmed by Bishop’s encouragement and desire to help bring Our Lady’s plan to fruition. It was apparent he had focused on our future in prayer and discernment during his preparation for this meeting. His guidance blesses us! We must step up more vigorously in response to Our Lady’s call and Our Lord’s graces.

Bishop Kevin Rhoades blessed a young pilgrim after the dedication of the new Altar in the Oratory of the Holy Family.

Bishop Kevin Rhoades dedicates the new Altar in the Oratory of the Holy Fammily.

Bishop Kevin Rhoades celebrates Holy Mass on the newly dedicated Altar.

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From our meeting, we now have directional clarity on the sacred imagery that should adorn the sanctuary in the Oratory of the Holy Family. In 2024, we would like to kick off the project and get drawings and project scope to the point where we can engage our stakeholders for input and feedback. Along these same lines, it is time to get a master plan for our Campus.

As we focus on the pilgrims, we need to be able to communicate Our Lady’s gift in person, in writing, and with video content, and even in languages other than English. Most important is her call to the nation’s youth. They have a unique and privileged role in her plan.

We must reach those who can never visit the Oratory of the Holy Family and bring them Our Lady’s message, hope, and mission. We need to get every willing soul in America who is open to participating in Heaven’s plan.

Some of this is within reach with our current staff and inside our current funding. However, the long-term growth of this apostolate will need more significant funding. What has become clear from 2023 is that our mission is growing, how we pursue it must change, and our efforts must increase in response. We are called to expand our cooperation in Our Lady’s plan for America.

2024

Our Lady’s call in this devotion is to live and imitate Our Lady in her Fiat and the Holy Family. This is not a call to merely imitate the acts (although that is good) but to imitate in the very essence. She calls us to do the will of God in our lives (Fiat) and remain constantly in a state of Sanctifying Grace through holiness and the Sacraments. This, on our part, will give her the instruments to work her miracles of grace in our country.

In addition to the planning for the Oratory renovation, here are the primary focus areas for 2024.

Bishop Rhoades indicated he favors the Holy Eucharist being reserved in the Oratory of the Holy Family in spiritual support of the pilgrims. This is our greatest hope for 2024. The Divine Eucharistic Presence changes everything! He will bring more to our mission’s success than anything else.

Due to our limited space for presentations and events, the Oratory is used in ways that are not appropriate for reservation. We are solving this problem by building (almost completed) a priest vesting room across the hall from the Bishop’s Suite. This frees the current vesting room to the right of the Sanctuary for a Eucharistic Chapel. To finish this project, we must add heat and air conditioning (HVAC) to these new areas and complete the bathroom attached to the vesting room. This should be finished by spring.

The downside is that the Tabernacle will not be in the sanctuary. Our long-term plan is to build a Convocation Center, which will provide the opportunity to hold larger events and, most importantly, preserve the Oratory as a place of prayer and Sacraments.

We also need HVAC for the Gift Shop, hallway, snack room, and offices in the west wing.

The biggest project that we have is one that is unfolding now. It is bringing Our Lady’s hope for America to fruition. We must reach those who will respond to Our Lady’s call by bringing more pilgrims to the Oratory of the Holy Family. And for those who cannot come here, we still need to reach them.

In response, we are working on an expanded event schedule for next summer. We will focus on presenters who love Our Lady, understand her call for America, and know that the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the destination.

To reach beyond the Midwest, we are working on expanding our internet and social media outreach with more content. The content will be about the Marian Devotion of Our Lady, the Immaculate Virgin, the Patroness of America, and her plan for her children in America to bring the Peace of Christ to the world. What a privilege she is offering to us. It will also encompass the interactions with this devotion and other Marian devotions, and for those interested, it will address the theological basis.

In short, the content will show Our Lady’s plan for America as the antidote to the post-Christian culture that has overtaken our country and, for the most part, the world. This content will be produced in-house, but video content will need professional assistance.

Also, Bishop Rhoades teaches us that this devotion is not isolated and separate from other Marian Devotions. He points especially to Lourdes, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Meanwhile, this devotion is focused on America’s role in bringing the Peace of Christ to America. It is part of a more prominent call of Our Lady for the entire world. Devotion to Our Lady of America cannot be fully understood in isolation without Lourdes, Fatima, and Guadalupe, to name a few.

It is an exciting time for us at the Our Lady, Patroness of America Center. We are privileged to participate with her!

Month: December 2023

2023 Year in Review

To read more about our future plans click here, and to support us in this mission click here.

Annual Fundraising Appeal 2-for-1 Match!

UPDATE: Annual Appeal - 2-for-1 Match

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Exciting Plans Ahead for the Center

Report to Pilgrims, Volunteers, Patrons, Friends, and Family.

2024

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