Father Check
August 12, 2024
-
Announcement to Friends of the Shrine
I am sad to inform you that Father Paul N. Check, Executive Director of the Shrine of
Our Lady of Guadalupe at La Crosse, Wisconsin, has resigned his position, effective August 8,
2024. Father Check will begin a leave of absence from active ministry for a period of time to
take care of his parents, after which he will be returning to his home diocese, the Diocese of
Bridgeport in Connecticut, to receive a new priestly assignment. With deepest regret at the loss
of his service, the Board of Directors has accepted his resignation.
Father Check has served as Acting Executive Director and Executive Director for the past
four years. His service has been marked especially by the building-up of the outstanding staff
and corps of volunteers who serve the Shrine, and by his preaching and teaching. The Board of
Directors of the Shrine expresses its deepest gratitude to Father Check and its sincerest best
wishes and prayers for his future priestly service.
Becket Ghioto, Director of Communications, will serve as Acting Executive Director
until a new Executive Director is appointed. He will also remain Director of Communications.
Please continue to pray for the Shrine and for all who serve its mission as a holy place of
pilgrimage to meet Our Lord under the care of His Virgin Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe.Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine, Inc., A Wisconsin Corporation
August 12, 2024
Father Paul N. Check
Fr. Paul N. Check was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport, CT in 1997. He holds an STB from the Gregorian University and an STL from the University of the Holy Cross. Fr. Check has taught courses in fundamental moral theology, sexual and medical ethics, Christian anthropology, the Beatitudes, and the Parables. For twelve years, he taught a two-week moral theology course annually to St. Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, and more recently, he has a taught regularly for the Augustine Institute, and for FOCUS. He has given several retreats and days of recollection to diocesan clergy, religious, and seminarians.
Fr. Check earned a BA in history and political science from Rice University in 1981, after which he served as an officer in the US Marine Corps for nine years, and prior to entering seminary. He has been a parish priest and a high school chaplain. From 2008-2016, Fr Check was the Executive Director of Courage International, presenting to clergy in many dioceses the Church’s teaching on homosexuality and her pastoral response. Fr. Check was then assigned as the Rector of the St John Fisher Seminary in the Diocese of Bridgeport for four years, during which time he also served as director of ongoing priestly formation. On August 15, 2020 and with the permission of his Bishop, he was appointed the Executive Director of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, WI, by His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, and Shrine’s Board of Directors.
“The unique character of the Shrine is the unique character of Our Lady in salvation history. What does she do? She brings us to her Son.”
– Father Paul N. Check, Executive Director