New executive director sees even greater potential for The National Shrine of Mary, Mother of the Church
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Andrew Wright and his wife once made a pilgrimage to the Basilica of the Holy Family in Barcelona, Spain.
The soaring Gothic-Art Nouveau oasis of stone and glass has been a work in progress since 1884.
“The lofty pillars, the light filtering in with the greens and blues of the stained glass — it’s like celebrating Mass outdoors and being in nature,” said Mr. Wright.
“It’s taken them almost a century and a half to replicate what we have right here!” he stated. “We celebrate Mass surrounded by maples and sturdy oaks and the sky aglow with the setting sun.”
Mr. Wright was speaking of The National Shrine of Mary, Mother of the Church (mothersshrine.com), in Laurie, of which he recently became executive director.
The Shrine, established in 1993 on the idyllic grounds of St. Patrick Church in Laurie, honors Mary in her role as mother of the Body of Christ, which is the Church.
The Shrine’s centerpiece is an outdoor altar flanked by flowing water, the names of thousands of mothers etched in black granite, and a 14-foot-tall stainless steel sculpture of Christ’s mother.
“Here she stands, arms open, welcoming everyone to her love and inviting them to get to know her Son,” said Mr. Wright.
The executive director’s role is to help the board of directors uphold the Shrine’s vision and mission.
“We want it to be a place to worship God and show proper reverence to our mother,” Mr. Wright stated. “We want to glorify motherhood, the integrity of the family and help people come to know Jesus and have a deeper relationship with him through the intercession of his mother.”
Pope St. Paul VI (+1963-78) revered Mary as the Mother of the Church because she was present in the Upper Room on Pentecost and filled with the same Holy Spirit that inspired the Apostles.
“She leads us to her Son,” Mr. Wright emphasized. “We must remember that God the Son did not just appear out of nowhere. He chose to enter into this world through Mary, who said yes.”
“That quiet voice”
Mr. Wright was born in New Jersey, grew up on the West Coast and eventually settled with his wife, Beth, in Denver.
He worked in marketing and advertising for private enterprises before establishing his own production company, then going to work for the Denver archdiocese.
He dove deeper into promoting evangelization and formation through his work at the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) before accepting his current position with the Shrine in Laurie this past March.
“If you had asked me years ago if I would be living in the Midwest, working at a Catholic national shrine, I probably would have said you’re crazy,” he stated.
“But God has that plan, and you have to listen to that quiet voice,” he said. “You have to silence your heart and mind and listen to him, and that’s when you find out where you need to be and what you need to be doing.”
Mr. Wright relates to his patron saint.
“St. Andrew is the one who introduced his brother, Peter, to Jesus,” he noted. “He’s only mentioned a couple of times in the Bible, but he dropped his nets and followed Jesus. He worked behind the scenes so other people can get to know and have a relationship with Jesus.”
Mr. Wright acknowledged being more of a carpenter like St. Joseph than a fisherman, “But, I’ll go with it.”
He’s convinced that people long for sacred spaces where they can quiet their hearts and hear God’s invitation to draw near to himself.
“We need these places of solitude, places of reflection, to reflect and pray and to be able to hear the word of the Lord, so he can let us know what he wants of us and for us,” he said.
Mr. Wright has always cultivated a sense of urgency in his own work, but doing God’s work increases the intensity.
“We have to save souls, we have to help them get to know the Lord, we have to help people get to heaven,” Mr. Wright insisted.
“It’s a beautiful but sometimes crazy world out there,” he said. “A world that needs to know Jesus, to have that relationship, to reflect and know who they are and their place in God’s beautiful plan.”
A starting point
Mr. Wright has heard many refer to the Shrine as “a hidden gem.”
“To have this national shrine right here is a gift, a blessing to all,” he said.
One frequent visitor revealed, “I’ve never felt more Catholic than when I attend Mass here at the Shrine.”
Mr. Wright noted that evangelization — leading people to God, which is an essential part of the Christian life — can sometimes be difficult and awkward.
“People can have a tough time sharing their faith and having conversations about it,” he said. “You may not want to be that guy standing on a pedestrian walk with a cardboard sign, yelling things out.
“But when you have a shrine and beautiful gardens and places of sacred ground to visit, it’s very easy to invite someone in and start that conversation, to start that journey with them,” he said.
“Reverence and prayer”
Mr. Wright speaks warmly of his spouse of 30 years and their three grown daughters.
“I have an incredible wife, who has deepened and drawn me closer to my faith,” he said. “I thank her daily for all that she has done.”
He recently had her name added to the Mothers Wall of Life at The National Shrine of Mary, Mother of the Church.
With thousands of names added over the past quarter-century, the Mothers Wall of Life honors the gifts and vocation of mothers of all backgrounds.
“Mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, mothers of all types,” said Mr. Wright. “Strong, caring, faithful, prayerful women who have raised and guided us in this world and made us better people. The wall is a sacred tribute that grows in strength with every name that’s added.”
He pointed out that because mothers are beacons of hope, the shrine is an ideal destination for the Jubilee Year of Hope.
Mr. Wright and his wife have made pilgrimages to holy places around the world. He said all of those sacred journeys had something in common: “reverence and prayer.”
“A pilgrimage is a means to step out from your ordinary, everyday life, to quiet your hearts, quiet your mind and be in communion with God,” he said.
“All along the way, you’re giving thanks, praying and giving alms,” he stated. “All of that makes for a meaningful pilgrimage experience.”
He noted that it’s about much more than reaching a destination.
“It’s the journey itself and all the different the people you encounter along the way, all of them wandering through to where the Lord wants to take them,” he said.
“You encounter the Lord through them, because they’re all created in his image.”
He also acknowledged the Shrine’s importance to families visiting the Lake of the Ozarks each summer.
“You have people who see it as a place of pilgrimage, and some who may see it as simply an attraction,” he observed. “We understand that. If we can get them here through curiosity about the Mothers’ Wall or this 14-foot sculpture of Mary, we can set them off on a more faith-based journey.
“They quiet their minds and hearts,” he said. “They start questioning and engaging and learning. Then, our job is to step out of the way and let Mary and Jesus take care of it.”
“Most loving mother”
Pope St. Paul VI, at the conclusion of the Third Session of the Second Vatican Council in 1964, formally declared the Blessed Virgin Mary as “Mother of the Church — that is to say, of all Christian people, the faithful as well as the pastors, who call her the most loving Mother.”
The National Shrine of Mary, Mother of the Church, was dedicated in 1992, having been conceived in the mid-1980s in what was once a water run-off ravine at the rear of the St. Patrick Parish property in Laurie.
Longtime pastor Father Fred Barnett, now deceased, had the idea of developing the 6,000-seat outdoor Shrine in the form of a grotto to make room for more weekend communicants each summer.
The centerpiece is a 2,840-pound stainless steel sculpture of the Blessed Mother on a revolving pedestal above a reflection pool.
Sculptor Don Wiegand, who created the sculpture, described his subject as “an ageless lady, depicting love, balance and grace.”
Sunday Mass is celebrated at the Shrine each Saturday at 8 p.m. and on Sundays at 8:30 a.m. between the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. The Masses are celebrated indoors in the event of inclement weather.
The Shrine also contains the Mother’s Wall of Life, a series of polished black granite panels inscribed with the names of mothers from all over the world, out of gratitude for the gift of life.
Bishop Emeritus John R. Gaydos, who led the diocese from 1997-2018, dedicated the Mother’s Wall on Mother’s Day in 1999.
Fr. Barnett emphasized repeatedly that the Shrine’s purpose is to honor the Blessed Mother and to help promote a deeper overall appreciation of motherhood, the preciousness of human life and the integrity of the family.
Calling it a “wonderful tribute to motherhood,” Fr. Barnett said the Shrine honors all mothers, living and deceased, and of every race, creed and skin color.”
In May 2003, the U.S. Catholic bishops granted the Shrine of Mary, Mother of the Church the rare designation of a national shrine.
In doing so, the bishops acknowledged that the Shrine was already a pilgrim destination for people from all over the United States, and encouraged even more people to seek spiritual refreshment at this holy place.
“This,” Fr. Barnett stated in 2003, “will enable us to reach more people with the message of Mary’s universal motherhood — not just of the Catholic Church her Son started, but of the whole world.”
An estimated 50,000 people each year visit the shrine.
“A gift from God”
Mr. Wright has stood on the same hillside and taken in the same views and seen the same potential that Fr. Barnett recognized decades ago, even before anything was built on Marian Way.
“He wanted an immersive experience of the faith, one that has impact,” said Mr. Wright. “Not just a place of prayer but a spiritual encounter. He wanted people to feel that awe and serenity and be surrounded by the beauty that lifts the soul to God.”
So much of that vision has been recognized through the years, but Mr. Wright sees much more to be done.
“We’re on the cusp of it!” he said. “The hills and trees of Laurie are so beautiful. How do you touch on that? It’s a gift from God. How do you embrace that?”
He sees the need to reinvigorate parts of the property and develop further offerings, including a designated retreat center for pilgrims and visitors.
“When we refurbish some of the grounds, when we build some of these other elements, people will come in droves and in awe and will count themselves blessed,” he said.
“It will no longer be a hidden gem,” he predicted. “Our biggest concern will be crowd-control.”
He called to mind Fr. Barnett’s vision of what the Shrine would become.
“I would love for people to come here and say, ‘I’ve just stepped into an essence of Eden, such a beautiful place where the Lord and his Mother accept me for who I am and where I am,’” said Mr. Wright.
“I hope they will come here if they’re in need or in hope or even in desperation for God’s healing, if they’re just beginning to become more deeply engaged in their faith, or if they’re looking to further solidify their faith and built on it,” he said.
“Sacred grounds”
Mr. Wright understands that any investment in The Shrine of Mary, Mother of the Church, is based on trust in God and his power to move mountains and hearts.
“A place like this can have such a profound impact,” he said. “We’re called to care for and cultivate this sacred ground and plant the seeds, knowing that God will reap a rich harvest if we trust and cooperate with him.
“That is our hope, that is our prayer, that is our intention,” he stated.
He emphasized that the intimacy, community and familiarity that have been hallmarks of the people of St. Patrick Parish for generations will need to persist through any change and growth.
“We need the Shrine to be very personal,” said Mr. Wright. “It’s not a park or botanical garden. These are very sacred grounds where you’re having these encounters and conversions.”
Whatever joys or sorrows people bring must be stamped with the seal of God’s love, revealed through the welcoming care of the Blessed Mother.
“When you go to places where so many people have been there praying before you, you feel the sanctity and God’s love all around you,” he said.
