WASHINGTON – Near the end of the Diocese of Camden’s biennial Marian Pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Bishop Dennis Sullivan delivered words of hope in the house dedicated to the Mother of God.
“We journey as believers in the Gospel of her son” in the confidence that “God dwells with us,” he said to the thousands of priests, deacons, religious, laity, schoolchildren and young adults of multiple cultures and backgrounds who traveled Oct. 26 from South Jersey.
“We have come here as pilgrims to this magnificent basilica,” Bishop Sullivan said during the closing Mass in the shrine’s Upper Church.
With the Trinity Dome adorned with images of the Blessed Mother and the saints above – and the Christ in Majesty mosaic behind him – Bishop Sullivan urged the faithful to revel in the shrine’s Byzantine-Romanesque architecture and “let its beauty raise your hearts, your thoughts, your minds.”
Imploring the Mother of God to “pray for us and accompany us,” he hoped that the pilgrims, “with eyes fixed on Mary, may follow closely in the footsteps of [her] son.”
About 3,700 people from the Diocese’s six counties joined Bishop Sullivan and Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Williams in the nation’s capital, bringing their hopes, fears, joys and troubles to the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the Diocese of Camden and the United States of America.
Msgr. Vito Buonanno, the shrine’s associate rector and director of pilgrimages, welcomed South Jersey’s faithful and stated his gratefulness “for the sacrifices you have made to come here.”
“I thank you for the witness you give by being here. The graces you receive here today, I pray you take them back to your Diocese, your parish, your families. May this day be for all of you a day of grace, a day of peace, a day of understanding how we are all God’s people,” he said.
‘Fruits of the Faith’
Through the shrine’s 80 chapels and oratories that honor the Blessed Mother – representative of the varied cultural devotions to her around the world – the pilgrimage showed “the fruits of the faith,” said Julio Mendez, who is from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden.
Enjoying the experience with his wife, Denise; daughters Liliana and Gabriella; and cousin, Angelina Cruz, he said he appreciated the opportunity for his family “to increase our faith and be a part of the one Church here. This pilgrimage today is very important for all of us.”
For Father Peter Idler, pastor of All Saints Parish in Millville, the journey struck a personal note, as he was able to pray in front of the recently installed altar to Our Lady of Aparecida, widely venerated by Catholics in Brazil.
Photo Gallery- 2024 Diocesan Marian Pilgrimage
While a student at Saint Joseph High School in Metuchen in the 1980s, he participated in an exchange program that sent him to Brazil for a year. While there, he was introduced to host families and learned about the patroness of Brazil. Just two months ago, Father Idler was able to return to Brazil for the first time.
On that visit, “I thanked her for watching over me while I lived there, and all these years since.”
“Praying in front of the statue [in Washington] made me immediately feel closer to the host families who received me, and brought my heart back to Brazil. I prayed for them, and I sent them all pictures of the statue, letting them know I was praying for and thinking of them,” he said.
Father Idler traveled to the nation’s capital with almost 40 of his parishioners: “I’m always at peace here; it feels like I’m coming home.”
Multicultural Travelers
The Diocese of Camden brought its own multiculturalism and history to the day, as well, in the form of a concert of sacred music that included the Diocesan African Choir; the Handbell Ensemble from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Regional School, Berlin; the Diocesan Gospel Choir, and the choir from Paul VI High School, Haddon-field. There was also a procession of banners representing the Diocese’s 62 parishes, and a multilingual recitation of the rosary said by South Jersey’s faithful in English, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Igbo.
Stepping off one of the 40-plus buses that traveled to the shrine was eighth-grader Charlotte Kullman of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Regional School. The first thing she noticed: the Knights Tower and its bells, 329 feet high in the sky.
“As the tower watches over Washington, I was reminded of how God looks over all of us,” she said. “It was breathtaking.”
It was fitting that she noticed the bells, being one of 15 seventh- and eighth-graders from her school to be a part of its handbell ensemble, performing familiar tunes such as “Glory to God” and “Ave Maria” in the hallowed space.
“I was so grateful that we had a chance to share our gifts with the people in this beautiful shrine,” Kullman added.
Rhoda Trinity from the Diocesan Gospel Choir also expressed appreciation, and the blessing to serve God in a group that sang English- and Spanish-language hymns.
She said she was happy to join the wider Diocese in “thanking God for his blessings. … It doesn’t matter our race or ethnicity, we were all in peace, united as one.”
Father James Bartoloma, director of the diocesan Marian Commission, was pleased with the number of pilgrims who attended, evidence of a people “hungry for the robust experience a pilgrimage offers, and knowing how wonderful it is to be a part of something greater than ourselves.”
Recognizing the sacrifices those of all ages made for the trip, including rising early on a Saturday morning to make the 2.5- to 3-hour excursion, he added that “when you go out of your comfort zone and give God that opening, it brings great graces. We need the Lord and His Mother now.”
“May the graces continue until the next pilgrimage in 2026,” he said.
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
