“If You Build It, They Will Come”

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These iconic words of promise from the movie, A Field of Dreams come to breathtaking fruition in the final scene which affords a bird’s eye panorama of the headlights of thousands of cars drawn by some magnetic force through the darkness toward an illuminated baseball field carved out of a corn field in Iowa. These words might be as aptly applied to a site much closer to home as thousands of cars each year illu­mine the highways leading to LaSalette Shine in Attleboro for the illumination of the spacious shrine grounds in com­memoration of the coming of Christ the Light into our world at Christmas. It has been a beloved Christmas tradition for sixty-one years for pilgrims to visit LaSalette Shrine each year for the Festival of Lights that begins at Thanksgiving and extends through Christmas.
The National Shrine of Our Lady of LaSalette in Attleboro, however, maintains a much wider, year-round mission that attracts visitors to the shrine for many and varied reasons. That mission is rooted historically in an apparition of Our Blessed Mother on September 19, 1846 to Maximin Giraud and Melanie Calvat, two children from farming families in a remote, mountain area of France. The children reported a vision of a beautiful woman dressed in white sitting with her elbows resting on her knees and weeping over the sins of hu­manity. She entrusted the children with an urgent message for a renewed commitment to conversion and prayer throughout the world, very similar to the message entrusted by Our Blessed Mother to the three shepherd children at Fatima dur­ing 1917. One of the ways in which the priests, brothers and sisters of the Missionaries of Our Lady of LaSalette continue to promote to Our Lady’s call to conversion of heart and deepened prayer is their apostolate at the National Shrine in Attleboro. This shrine provides invitation, welcome and sup­port to individuals and groups seeking reconciliation and a closer union with God. The priests make the Sacrament of Reconciliation readily available every day of the week as Confessions are heard Monday through Friday from 1 o’clock to 2 o’clock and 5:00-6:00 on Wednesday evenings (except this week while they are away for provincial meetings). Ex­panded Confession opportunities are offered every Saturday and Sunday afternoon from 1 o’clock through 4 o’clock. There are also expanded hours for Confession during Advent and Lent. The shrine is also a pilgrimage site for a wide range of special groups including the Haitian, Vietnamese, Portu­guese, Hispanic and Native American communities. Many visitors have also been drawn to the shrine by the musical programs presented by Father Pat and other Christian music artists. On Thursday evening, November 3 ^rd at 7:00pm the shrine invites you to attend a profoundly moving concert sung by Watoto, a choir of orphaned children from Uganda. LaSalette Shrine also provides a large Catholic Gift Shop and Bookstore within easy driving distance. Set your GPS at 947 Park Street, Attleboro if you don’t know the way!