Bishop David L. Ricken appoints Fr. Francis 'Rocky' Hoffman as President & Rector of National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion

Bishop David L. Ricken has appointed Father Francis J. Hoffman as president and rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Wisconsin. Father Hoffman, an Opus Dei priest known as Father Rocky, will succeed Father Tony Stephens.

Father Hoffman will continue his current roles as chairman and CEO of Relevant Radio while leading the shrine. Father Stephens, a member of the Fathers of Mercy, will remain at the shrine as director of sacramental life and pastoral care of souls. Bishop Ricken noted that Father Stephens and other priests from his order will continue to celebrate Mass, hear confessions, and guide liturgies at the site.

The National Shrine commemorates the location where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared three times in 1859 to Adele Brice, a Belgian immigrant and servant of God. The shrine is the only Church-approved Marian apparition site in the United States. Bishop Ricken, who opened the canonization cause for Brice in January, announced the appointment in a letter dated Sept. 22.