by: Mike Sponsler / Joe Korkowski
“As parishioners of St. Mary’s my wife (Cindy) and I wanted to provide more images of Mary for all of us, particularly images of her apparitions over the centuries. Our Lady has appeared to all sorts of people, from farmers and peasants to rulers and religious. Our Lady also comes as a native woman for the culture in which she appears. The church has approved 17 apparitions, but there are many others,” says Mike Sponsler.
Mike continued, “Initially we considered statues or bronze reliefs that are typically seen in churches. Neither of these really seemed right for our church. We prayed about this for a couple of years, then we found the book The Mother of Jesus is Wonderfully Real by Fr. Paul Murray, O.P. In this book we found beautiful watercolor illustrations of Mary, painted by Bernadette Gockowski. The first watercolor that really struck us was one that shows Mary laughing, which for us is a very personal view of Mary that we had rarely thought of. Continuing in the book, Bernadette added illustrations of six of her apparitions.”
Mike says that this is when they knew they had found what they had been looking for. They were able to contact Bernadette through her website and commissioned her for six paintings.
Together they chose Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal as these apparitions are known by many Catholics.
Later Mike says they added Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of La Vang, as our parish has thriving cultures of both Hispanic and Vietnamese families.
The final apparition chosen was Our Lady of Good Help. This apparition occurred in Champion, Wisconsin which is near Green Bay. This site is close to St. Mary’s and makes for a relatively easy pilgrimage from Alexandria. By the way, Fr. Dan is led a pilgrimage in May of 2025 that included a stop at this shrine. (Look for a story on this trip later on)
The six paintings were presented to Fr. Matthew and Fr. Dan and were consecrated for the church and school on Saturday December 21st.
The paintings can be seen on display in St. Mary’s School. Several are currently displayed in the entrance to the school, near the offices, the entrance into the gymnasium and in the Media Center. Mike says that they have commissioned Bernadette to provide six more paintings within the next year.
If you are interested in Bernadette’s work, or perhaps purchasing some of her art, please visit her website at bernadettegockowski.com/.
The Mother of Jesus is Wonderfully Real by Fr. Paul Murray, O.P. (Illustrated by Bernadette Gockowski)