April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN
Auriesville shrine tries to save itself
A popular pilgrimage site since the late 19th century, the shrine is on the site of a 17th-century Mohawk village called Ossernenon, where Jesuit missionaries Ss. Isaac Jogues, René Goupil and John Lalande were martyred in the 1640s and St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656.
But attendance dropped by more than 50 percent during the shrine's 2013 season. Collections brought in less than $100,000.
This is all despite the fact that, the weekend St. Kateri was canonized in 2012, 20,000 pilgrims deluged the shrine, even forcing part of the New York State Thruway to shut down while the Mohawk maiden's sainthood was celebrated.
The martyrs' shrine is not supported by the Albany Diocese, so it relies on its 100 Masses per 24-week season and periodic novenas to support its staff and operate its 400-acre facility, which contain five chapels, two museums, a candle shrine, a Jesuit cemetery, a visitor's center and gift shop, outdoor Stations of the Cross and a 10,000-capacity coliseum.
In September, wind and water damaged a two-ton crucifix, 230 windows and the three-tier roof of the coliseum, as well pews and paneling. Repairs and upgrades will cost $500,000.
"It's a very serious situation. This is not a scare tactic," said Joey Caruso, a retired radio broadcaster and shrine volunteer who is overseeing the fundraising campaign.
If the coliseum problems aren't addressed, he explained, mold could create health hazards and the roof could cave in.
The St. Kateri Chapel, public bathrooms and water system are also in need of repairs and upgrades. Mr. Caruso has been going to the shrine for many years, especially since being diagnosed with cancer in 1990.
"It's the most holy grounds in New York, the best-kept secret upstate," he said. "There are many private miracles that take place there. As Bishop [Howard J.] Hubbard said not too long ago, we have more saints than any other place in the western hemisphere."
The martyrs' shrine was founded in 1885 by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), who also at one point operated the National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in Fonda and the Shrine of St. Kateri Tekakwitha in Kahnawake in Quebec, Canada. The Jesuit community has been the shrine's largest benefactor, staffing it with three priests, the most recent being Rev. George Belgarde, SJ.
Mr. Caruso said that, although the Vatican can't close a national shrine, it is uncertain whether the Jesuits will keep a priest there if the coliseum can't open again this spring.
"It would behoove us, the Catholic community, to get these repairs done," he said. "We need to rely on Catholics who will claim ownership of the shrine. Generations of Catholics have gone there.
"In the silence of that place, you can almost hear a holiness," Mr. Caruso added. "It's such a special place that we cannot afford not to save it. It's up to us, the laity. We're confident that we're going to raise the money."
Mr. Caruso is mailing 10,000 brochures to shrine visitors and area businesses and plans to hold fundraising radiothons and telethons. In the past, he helped raised $50 million for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and held telethons to raise money and awareness for Community Maternity Services' Farano Center for Children, a Catholic Charities ministry, among other organizations.
"This is my way of giving back," he said of the shrine campaign. "God has blessed me in so many ways. The shrine can't run on nickels and dimes anymore. I will invite the pope or the cardinal if I have to.
"I've got to believe that God is going to make this thing work," he continued. "It's not my shrine. It's the Catholic shrine. It we can't pass down the saints to the next generation, who will?" [[In-content Ad]]
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