WASHINGTON – A smiling Father James Bartoloma greeted the Diocese of Camden’s pilgrims as they arrived the morning of Oct. 29 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, lovingly referred to as “Mary’s House.”
“Camden is here and faithful to the Shrine,” said the pastor of Sewell’s Church of the Holy Family Parish, who also serves as director of the diocesan Marian Commission.
About 2,100 of the Diocese of Camden’s parishioners, clergy and religious men and women joined Bishop Dennis Sullivan on the bi-annual Marian Pilgrimage to Washington. It was the first pilgrimage in four years, as the 2020 journey was canceled due to COVID. The energetic faithful who filled 31 buses, four vans, personal cars or took public transportation were evidence of a spiritual eagerness to return.
The day included a multilingual Rosary and concert by students from Haddonfield’s Paul VI High School; Cherry Hill’s Camden Catholic High School, and Berlin’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel Regional School handbell choir, as well as the children and adult choirs from Wildwood’s Notre Dame de la Mer Parish. The Igbo Catholic Apostolate and African Mass Choirs also lent voices to the heavenly hymns.
The gathered also spent time touring the Shrine and learning about its history, iconography and architecture.
At the start of Mass, parishioners processed in with parish banners representing all six counties of the Diocese. In his homily, Bishop Sullivan connected the day’s Gospel of the Annunciation with the current three-year Eucharistic Revival in which the Diocese and the Catholic Church of the United States are currently engaged.
Just as Mary said “Yes” to God, “let your Amen echo hers,” in the reception of the Eucharist, he preached. In doing so, “You carry in yourself the eternal son of God, who is truly, really present in the host. Like Mary, you, too, are a temple of the Lord.”
Mary brought Jesus in the world, and “that’s what we have to do,” he said.
“We have to bring him into the world of our parishes, schools, families, our communities, ourselves, our Diocese,” most especially to “the too many people who are distant from him, from the Church and God’s love.”
Thanking those in attendance for making the pilgrimage, and wishing them safe travels home, he prayed that “your lives of faith be enriched by what you have experienced here today … in Mary’s House.”
Appreciative families, religious, and youth from South Jersey brought their hearts, intentions and gifts to the Shrine.
“We love Mary, Our Mother,” said Dr. E. Juliet Njoku, coordinator for Barrington’s Igbo Catholic Apostolate and African Mass Choirs. She and a group of 30 musicians participated in “A Song of Praise to Mary” before the recitation of the multilingual Rosary, which was prayed in the languages of English, Igbo, Korean, Spanish and Tagalog.
Sister Michele DeGregorio, FMIJ, principal of Woodbury Heights’ Saint Margaret Regional School, admired the Shrine’s beauty with nine others from her religious community.
“It’s important to bring not only representation of consecrated life and of our religious community,” she said, but “to be Church with the Diocese and be with the people.”
Expressing her love of the Blessed Mother, she hoped that all pilgrims found time during the day to “connect with Mary, and realize she is our loving protector and that she teaches us how to love Jesus.”
Brendan McBride, from Notre Dame de la Mer Parish, was trying to impart similar wisdom to his 10-year-old son, Desmond.
“I’ve always relied on Our Lady,” said McBride, who was wearing a shirt emblazoned with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas. “Anytime I’ve had troubles, stresses, anguish … I say my Rosary.”
He said he wanted to bring his son on the pilgrimage so that the youngster could understand that “our faith is the living God, and he is present here.”
“We need to teach our children the right, important values. I want to carry my faith and hand it over to him,” McBride said.
For a photo gallery from the daylong pilgrimage, visit catholicstarherald.org/photos.
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