LA CROSSE, Wis. — Kenneth Steiner and Rita Andrews from North Dakota spent part of their day Tuesday praying at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse.


What You Need To Know

  • Cardinal Raymond Burke announced he tested positive for COVID-19 on August 10

  • Four days later, his staff tweeted he was hospitalized and on a ventilator

  • Burke has been an outspoken critic of the COVID-19 vaccine

“We’ve been to other shrines, and we think they’re beautiful, so we wanted to be a part of this one,” Andrews said. 

They thought the whole area was beautifully built. 

“It’s amazing really, to put a structure up here in the hills like this? I think it’s just amazing,” Steiner said. 

The Shrine was a project started in the late 1990s by the then-Bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse, Raymond Burke. 

Burke, now a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, tweeted on August 10 he tested positive for COVID-19. 

On Saturday, just four days later, his staff tweeted from his account saying he was hospitalized and on a ventilator. They said Burke “faithfully prayed the Rosary for those suffering from the virus” and encouraged others to pray the Rosary for him. 

Andrews was saddened to hear the news. 

“We will pray for him,” she said.

AP Photo

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri, where Burke was an Archbishop, reported Burke got sick while on a visit to Wisconsin from Rome. 

Burke, 73, has been outspoken against the vaccine. It is unclear whether or not he was vaccinated himself. 

Steiner and Andrews, who said they both had COVID-19 last year and received their vaccinations this year, hope Burke fully recovers and changes his stance. 

“My thing is, God gave us a chance with this virus, and he helped us with this vaccine and I think we need to take advantage of it because I think that’s what God meant us to do,” Steiner said. 

“I think it’s just like polio, when they got the vaccine, I was a little girl then,” Andrews added. "We didn’t question. We got the vaccine. I think we should do that now.”

Spectrum News 1’s Andrew Havranek asked administrators at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe if there was an update on Burke’s condition Tuesday afternoon. 

The office told Havranek there would be a statement released at a later time, but had no other comment.