Week of Celebrations for Our Lady of Guadalupe Set in Archdiocese

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A newly crafted statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe will be visiting parishes of the archdiocese during the week leading to her feast on Friday, Dec. 12, when she will be brought in procession along Fifth Avenue to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where Cardinal Dolan will greet the marchers and celebrate a morning Mass in her honor.

The cathedral’s annual Mass for youth and young adults will be offered at 10 a.m. That evening, the cathedral will host a family Mass at 7 p.m., which will be celebrated by a visiting bishop from Mexico.

While the cathedral Masses will be similar to previous years, the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast will be a truly archdiocesan celebration this year, uniting parishes in the upper counties with those in Westchester and the Bronx, Staten Island and Manhattan in their devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated not only as patroness of the Americas and of Mexico but also as protectress of the unborn and as a beloved figure to immigrants from many Latino nations.

Not only is this year’s observance being viewed as an expansion of a popular annual celebration, it is also being touted by some officials as the leading edge of a new moment in Hispanic ministry in the archdiocese.

The nearly five-foot, wooden statue is being crafted in Italy. It is due to arrive in New York on Dec. 1, right on time for the archdiocese’s celebration, which will begin on Saturday, Dec. 6, with veneration at 8:30 a.m. at St. Patrick’s Church in Newburgh. Also that day, there will be veneration and novena and a Mass celebrated at St. Mary’s in Poughkeepsie. The celebrations there will take place at 4 and 7 p.m.

In succeeding days, Masses, novenas and veneration will be offered at a host of parishes, including: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Bronx, Sunday, Dec. 7, Mass and novena, beginning at 8 a.m.; and Sacred Heart, Monroe, Monday, Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, where veneration will take place at 8 a.m.

The statue was built with donations from Our Lady of Guadalupe committees in New York, Newark, Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Also traveling to the parishes and the cathedral will be images of St. Juan Diego and a tilma similar to the one he wore when the Blessed Mother appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill outside Mexico City in 1531.

St. Juan Diego’s feast day, Tuesday, Dec. 9, will be observed with a Mass and novena at St. Peter’s parish in Yonkers at 7 p.m.

The next day, Mass will be offered at Immaculate Conception Church on Staten Island at 7 p.m.

The traveling statue is a good way of acknowledging and bringing together the celebrations that take place in almost every parish with a significant Hispanic population.

“It’s important that people know that the majority of the parishes have an Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration. It’s good to highlight that,” said Wanda Vasquez, executive director of Hispanic Ministry for the archdiocese.

She told CNY that pastors have been excited to hear of the expanded plans for the Our Lady of Guadalupe feast and eager to join the celebration. Ms. Vasquez said she anticipates the statue will visit different churches each year, and that there may be a statue of St. Juan Diego to accompany Our Lady of Guadalupe next year.

“We’ve been working on this for quite some time,” said Ms. Vasquez, who noted that the planning involved members of her office as well as members of the newly formed Archdiocesan Pastoral Advisory Council for Hispanic Ministry.

“It’s the beginning of where we’re going and what we’re planning to do,” she said.

Very integral to the celebration has been the work of the archdiocese’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Committee under the leadership of its president, Jaime Lucero, and new spiritual director, Father Santiago Rubio, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine at St. Bernard’s parish in Manhattan.

Father Rubio, in an interview, said the work done recently by the archdiocese was a welcome addition to the celebration. He said he hoped “we will not stop in external expressions” but continue further, to lead those who celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe, not only in an annual celebration, but in a journey of faith that encompasses their “whole life.”

“I hope and pray these events are going to be a motivation, a call to conversion,” Father Rubio said.

The Latino community, he said, needs the “open arms attitude” represented by this celebration, and to see it as an invitation to become more involved through retreats, days of prayer and other spiritual programs.

“The most important thing is we are looking at (providing) more consistent spiritual effort,” he said.

The statue will make its way to Lower Manhattan on the eve of the feast, Thursday, Dec. 11, first visiting St. Brigid-St. Emeric Church on Avenue B for Mass at 7 p.m., and then processing across town to Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine at St. Bernard’s Church on West 14th Street.

Vigils complete with prayers and mañanitas will be offered that evening at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, beginning at 8 p.m., and at Our Lady of Guadalupe, beginning at 8 p.m.

The morning of the feast day will begin with a brief prayer service at Central Park South and Fifth Avenue, beginning at 8 a.m., followed by a procession along Fifth Avenue to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where Lucero will present a lighted torch to Cardinal Dolan on the steps outside as a symbol of the new archdiocesan Guadalupe celebration.

A contingent of traditional dancers, typical of Mexican devotion to Our Lady, will participate in the procession, as will members of various young adult groups in the archdiocese. Members of the Knights of Columbus will form an honor guard for safe passage of the religious images during the procession and at the parish celebrations throughout the week.