Something Totally Different

 Saturday, May 15, Hubby and I woke up early and well-rested, taking one last stretch in the queen-size bed in our new camper, before greeting the cool and cloudy day. Oh, the wonders of having a working furnace while camping!

The night before, just around dark, our son Nick and his dog Wes pulled into a neighboring site with our old popup. After switching to Carlton the camping trailer, we didn’t think we’d be setting up the popup again, yet there we were, as the sun was setting.

In the morning, after breakfast of Pfannkuchen (pancakes - a camping tradition), we jumped in Nick’s SUV and headed out.

I’d seen this place on a random website a while back and thought we should check it out. I still haven’t been able to put my head around it. But perhaps it’s just because we aren’t Catholic.

Anyway, this is the Queen of the Holy Rosary Mediatrix of Peace Shrine in Necedah. Wow, what a strange place. It reminded me of a tourist trap in Wisconsin Dells which had been the cutting edge in 1969, but now, not so much.

I realize it was still early in the year, so the grass hadn’t been mowed and there were no flowers blooming, like the internet pictures showed, but it was still just weird. And I’m still not sure about the huge church they are supposedly in the process of building. Looks more like how they build in Kenya, where they get the foundation and some walls up, and then it comes to a stand-still for years.

We met two older men, with strong Scandinavian accents, the kind of people you meet at those places who have their hearts and souls into it. The one guy told me all about how he was a little boy when Mrs. Van Hoof had the visitation from the Virgin Mary, and how he and his family drove all the way from near Milwaukee to see it and how he ended up volunteering to park cars as there was close to 10,000 people who had made the exodus there.

Also, they had a strict policy about women being modest and keeping their bodies covered and required them to put on a shawl or skirt (provided and looking bug-ridden) because it was holy ground. There was no mention of whether or not dogs were allowed, so we brought in Wes and Dino, seeing as there was no one else around except for the two old men.

Nearby, there was also a school – Queen of the Holy Rosary School, which has grades K through 12, but looked very big for the average class sizes their website shows.

And a book store – JMJ Religious Books. Which was pretty deserted as well.

I should go back when someone is around who knows the whole story so I can ask more questions. Or maybe not. Maybe what I saw that day was enough. 

Though it may not sound like it here, I truly thought the whole thing was very cool. I mean no disrespect to the builders and maintainers of this shrine, and I surely mean no disrespect to anyone practicing the Catholic religion. 

For more information:

Queen of the Holy Rosary Mediatrix Between God and Man Shrine website: https://www.queenoftheholyrosaryshrine.com/default.aspx

Queen of the Holy Rosary School website: https://queenoftheholyrosaryschool.com/

JMJ Religious Books website: http://stores.jmjrelbooks.com/

Where I originally ran into the information on this place: https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/wisconsin/spectacular-sacred-site-wi/