Necedah Shrine - Interdict

Interdict

After an investigation failed to support the validity of the apparitions, in 1951 John P. Treacy, Bishop of La Crosse, told the Van Hoofs to remove religious artifacts from their farm and stop circulating literature about the apparitions. In an official statement issued in 1955, he declared the visions to be false and prohibited worship associated with them. Van Hoof and her associates did not obey these orders. In May 1975, Bishop Frederick William Freking (1964–1983), Treacy's immediate successor, placed Van Hoof and six of her key followers under interdict, precipitating Van Hoof's final schism with the Roman Catholic Church. This did not stop Mary Ann Van Hoof and Myrtle Sommers from maintaining and recording disclosures from a Marian apparition manifestation at the site.