Just before the end of 2010, the Catholic Church affirmed that an appearance of the Virgin Mary in a Wisconsin farm some 151 years ago was an authentic Marian apparition. It’s the first such site in the United States. As Fr. Tom Rausch, a professor in Theological Studies, told the Los Angeles Times, this affirmation is important because the church is typically reluctant to verify any of the hundreds of reported sightings that happen each year.
