Parish Pilgrimages

Walsingham in Norfolk is England's great Marian shrine — a place of pilgrimage since 1061, when Lady Richeldis had a vision of the Annunciation and built a replica of the Holy House of Nazareth. It remains one of the most beloved pilgrimage destinations in Britain. We travel by coach from the parish, arriving in time for the 10:30 am Mass at the Shrine. The afternoon includes the Holy Mile walk through the village, the Slipper Chapel, and the afternoon Rosary Procession.

Lourdes in the French Pyrenees is one of the world's greatest Marian shrines. In 1858, Our Lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous eighteen times and revealed a spring of water at the Grotto of Massabielle, which continues to flow today. Millions of pilgrims, many of them sick or suffering, visit each year — and countless healings of body, mind, and soul have been recorded. Our parish joins the diocesan pilgrimage group for seven days of prayer, the baths, the torchlight procession, and Mass at the Grotto.

Rome — the city of Saints Peter and Paul, of the martyrs and the popes — is a pilgrimage unlike any other. We visit the four major basilicas (Saint Peter's, Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, Saint John Lateran, and Saint Mary Major), the Mamertine Prison where Peter was held, the catacombs, and the churches of the city's myriad saints. There will be a Papal audience on Wednesday and the opportunity for Mass in Saint Peter's Basilica. A trip that will change your understanding of the Church forever.

In 1879, at the gable wall of the parish church in Knock, County Mayo, fifteen witnesses saw an apparition of Our Lady, Saint Joseph, Saint John the Evangelist, and the Lamb of God. The apparition was silent — no message was given — and yet Knock has become one of the most visited Marian shrines in the world, drawing over one and a half million pilgrims each year. The atmosphere is deeply prayerful, peaceful, and gentle — a place of encounter with the mystery of God.

There is no pilgrimage quite like the Holy Land. To stand in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, to walk the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, to kneel at the Garden of Gethsemane, to sail on the Sea of Galilee — these are experiences that re-shape one's reading of the Gospels forever. Our itinerary includes Nazareth, Capernaum, the Jordan River, Cana, Jericho, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem. Father will celebrate Mass each day at the sacred sites. A pilgrimage of a lifetime.