Advent is upon us, and as it always includes two special Marian feast days—the Immaculate Conception and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe—we cannot help but ponder the gift of motherhood and the Christ Child. Mary’s “Yes” to God brought us the Savior, and it also gave us a spiritual mother, whom we can turn to whenever we need her maternal love.
Even more than our earthly moms, our Blessed Mother holds us in her heart, as she cares deeply about our souls. But as we know, faith without works is dead. If we truly want to live forever with our Blessed Mother and with Christ, we must not only learn about the faith and teach others, but we must go out into the world and build what St. John Paul II called a “culture of life.”
This is the message of Our Lady of Champion.
The only Marian apparition in the US
Adele Brise is one of the special few who can say she saw and spoke to our Blessed Mother. This young Belgian woman had consecrated her life to God and promised she would become a religious teaching sister. When she was still young, her parents migrated to America and settled in what is now Champion, Wisconsin.
One day, while walking through the woods, Adele saw a woman dressed in white. Neither spoke. A few days later, on October 9, 1859, Adele was walking home from Mass and again saw the woman. Adele asked what she wanted from her. Mary replied, “I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same.” Then she told Adele, “Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.”
And so Adele did, and after a few years, many women joined her. Her father built a chapel near where Mary appeared, and it has been the site of many miracles. On December 8, 2010, Bishop David Ricken declared the apparitions at Champion as worthy of belief.
Today, the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion is visited by thousands each year, and the mission of Adele—to teach young visitors about Our Lady and her Son so that they can live lives pointed toward Christ and eventually reach heaven—continues. One young man is helping facilitate this.
The Shrine’s new director of communications
John Paul Brissette recently joined the shrine’s staff as its director of communications. At just 23 years old, he already has a wealth of social media experience, but now he uses his talents to educate about Our Lady of Champion, about motherhood, and about the Catholic Faith.
While he was still in college, John Paul took a break to travel and create humorous videos with his brother. In just a short period, they gained five million followers. He explained that, though the videos were not specifically Catholic, they all had a statue of Mary in the background, and viewers certainly knew the importance of their faith. But as time went on, John Paul felt drawn to return to college and study marketing, so he enrolled in Providence College, a Dominican college in Rhode Island, and befriended the chaplain there.
He realized that he wanted to use his gifts to teach people about Catholicism and started working with campus ministry to run their social media accounts, which he said became one of the most followed campus ministries in the country. He also helped start a course on faith and marketing and created videos for the Dominican order. He explained that his videos use humor to show the joy of the faith and that his goal is to “preach the gospel through social media.”
John Paul soon met his now wife, who had grown up near the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion. As their relationship progressed, John Paul, who had always had a special devotion to Mary and to protecting the gift of motherhood, learned of the apparition there.
On a trip to the shrine, John Paul proposed in the Oratory—“the underground place of prayer located directly below the sanctuary of the Apparition Chapel.” After graduation, he and his wife moved to Wisconsin and got married. He then learned that Our Lady of Champion was looking for a communications director, so because of his love of Mary and newfound devotion to Our Lady of Champion, he instantly knew it was the perfect fit. Now he says he is giving his “talents to Our Lady and helping promote Our Lady.”
A passion for catechizing
John Paul explained that he always wanted to teach children and had actually gotten an associate’s degree in education, so he felt that his passions and the mission of the shrine aligned extremely well. He said his new job is exciting because he gets to “teach and to communicate the message of the faith and of Our Lady.”
He explained that one of his favorite things about his job is seeing the faith of little children. His office is next to the Oratory, so he sees kids approach the statue of Mary, and he smiles when he hears them happily exclaim “Mama Mary” or “That’s my mom!” The kids seem to instinctively understand that Mary is our mother, and they are drawn to her.
John Paul shared that he believes this understanding of Mary’s motherly love is crucial today, especially with so many strained family relationships. He explained that knowing that Mary is our mother helps us see what true motherhood should be and gives people the opportunity to experience unconditional love, even if they have never felt it.
And as a passionate pro-life advocate who has been to multiple Marches for Life, he understands that Mary’s example of loving motherhood helps women in crisis pregnancies see the beauty of their child. Her “Yes” to becoming the mother of our Savior serves as a model of motherhood to all women, especially those who are scared or who feel lonely. And the more that we teach others about her, the more they will come to understand the beauty of motherhood and the gift of a child.
This gift of motherhood is something we should focus on throughout Advent as we await the coming of the Christ Child. And while there are many special events and Masses throughout Advent at the shrine, one Mass in particular stands out as a way to venerate our spiritual mother.
On December 13, the shrine will celebrate Mary as our mother in a Rorate Caeli Mass. As the site explains, “Rorate Caeli is Latin for ‘Drop down, ye heavens.’” The Mass begins in complete darkness at 6:30 am, symbolizing the darkness of the world. Hundreds of candles will light the altar, and everyone in the congregation will hold a candle. As the Mass progresses, the sun begins to rise, symbolizing Christ as the light of the world. Afterward, everyone will pray a rosary together.
This beautiful Advent tradition not only points us to Christ but also illustrates the role Mary played in our salvation history and highlights the fact that she is a loving mother—someone we can count on to walk with us through both sorrowful and joyful times. This sacrificial love is the epitome of motherhood.
As Adele understood, Mary’s heart longs for each one of us. This Advent, and beyond, let us use her example of motherhood to teach our children, protect vulnerable children, and give our own “Yes” to God.
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