Diocesan deacons were invited to come together during Lent to visit the four churches designated by Bishop Earl Fernandes as pilgrimage sites during the Jubilee Year of Hope in 2025.
Deacons made stops at Somerset St. Joseph Church on Saturday, March 22; Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral on Wednesday, April 2; Lancaster Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption on Saturday, April 5 and Columbus Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelization Shrine on Monday, April 7.
At each location, the deacons spent time in prayer during a holy hour and discussing initiatives related to their ministry before participating in a service project.
Service projects included landscaping and yardwork on parish grounds at Somerset St. Joseph, assisting at Bottoms Up Diaper Bank in Lancaster and painting at St. Stephen’s Community House in Columbus.
The pilgrimage idea emerged from a meeting of the Deacon Council as an opportunity to prayerfully consider diocesan priorities for deacons, their collective and individual responses, and to spend time together in prayer and carrying out works of charity that are proper to the vocation of their ministry of service to the Church.
“A pilgrimage is much more than a field trip,” Bishop Fernandes said in a letter to the deacons. “It is an opportunity to be transformed by the Lord and to return to our homes, neighborhoods and parishes with a renewed sense of mission and identity.”
