The La Salette Shrine in Kenosha County has closed 58 years after the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette established it. (File photo)

The La Salette Shrine located in Twin Lakes in the southwest corner of Kenosha County closed Oct. 1.

In a media release announcing the closing, the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette said, “This difficult decision comes in response to ongoing challenges in securing sufficient personnel and a continuing decline in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, trends affecting the Church globally.”

The La Salette Missionaries of the former Province of Milwaukee purchased the land for the shrine in 1967. Since then, it has served as a sacred place of reconciliation and encounter for countless faithful across the region. In 2000, the province joined three others to form the Province of Mary, Mother of the Americas, based in Hartford, Connecticut.

In 2018, the province entrusted the pastoral care of the shrine to the Missionaries of La Salette from Poland on an ad experimentum (experimental) basis. While the pastoral mission continued, the North American Province retained ownership of the property.

After prayerful discernment, the provincial administration has decided to end the ministry and initiate the process to sell the property.

“We are deeply grateful for the many decades of ministry at Twin Lakes and for all the faithful who found healing and hope under the gaze of Our Lady of La Salette,” said Fr. William Kaliyadan, M.S., Provincial Superior of the Missionaries of La Salette in North America.

Throughout its history, the shrine has embodied the core La Salette message: reconciliation, healing, and a return to Christ through the tears and compassion of his mother.

The story of the La Salette Missionaries dates back to Sept. 19, 1846, when the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to two shepherd children near the village of La Salette in the French Alps. In the apparition, Mary wept as she asked the children to share a message of conversion, urging the people to return to the sacraments and to seek reconciliation with God and one another.

The local bishop approved the apparitions in 1851, and in 1858, six French priests became the first Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, the only community for men founded in response to a Marian apparition. Today, the community includes priests and brothers serving in 23 countries.