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Cardinal Dolan will lead New Yorkers on an archdiocesan pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., where they will visit the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and St. John Paul II National Shrine on Saturday, Nov. 15.
The cardinal will be the principal celebrant of a 4 p.m. Mass to conclude the visit to the basilica. (The Vigil Mass will fulfill the pilgrims’ obligation for Sunday.)
The pilgrimage will bring busloads of parishioners from five locations in the archdiocese—Staten Island, Manhattan, Yonkers, and Rockland and Orange counties—to the national shrine, the largest Catholic church in North America. It is familiar to many New Yorkers as the site of Masses and vigils offered in conjunction with the annual March for Life each January. The St. John Paul Shrine is just a short distance from Immaculate Conception Shrine.
The daylong event, the first archdiocesan pilgrimage in many years, is being organized by the Office of Adult Faith Formation under its director, Daniel Frascella, who told CNY that this would likely be the first of many such pilgrimages in the years to come.
Noting faith formation “is about continuing to grow closer to Jesus throughout our lives,” Frascella said making a pilgrimage provides an opportunity to do that.
“One way we grow closer to Him is by continuously learning about our faith and from the earliest times Christians have traveled to holy places as a way to encounter Christ and the richness of the Church,” he said.
Buses will leave New York at 6 a.m. and arrive in time for Cardinal Dolan to lead pilgrims in a midday Angelus in the basilica. After remarks by the cardinal, the New Yorkers will receive an orientation from the basilica’s director of pilgrimages.
The basilica is home to more than 70 chapels and oratories related to the peoples, cultures and traditions that form the fabric of the Catholic faith in America.
Frascella said pilgrims would then have an opportunity to tour the basilica and to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. There will also be time to visit the basilica’s gift shops.
Shuttle bus service will be available to the St. John Paul II National Shrine, which honors the late pontiff who was canonized April 27. The shrine, a gift of the Knights of Columbus, now has a 16,000-square-foot permanent exhibit, “A Gift of Love: The Life of St. John Paul II,” dedicated to promoting the legacy of the new saint. It was designated a national shrine by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in March.
St. John Paul II’s feast day is Oct. 22, the anniversary of his inauguration to the papacy in 1978.
Buses are scheduled to depart from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception at 5:30 p.m., Frascella said.
Cost: $75, includes bus transportation and a boxed dinner on board the trip home.
Information: Daniel.Frascella@archny.org or www.NYCatholicFaith.org.
