On September 30, thousands will gather at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC to participate in the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage.
Fr. John Paul Kern describes the pilgrimage as one of the ways the Dominican Order responds to Mary's challenge to pray the rosary more.
FR. JOHN PAUL KERN
Spokesperson, Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage
We're obviously great promoters of the Rosary. It's a great part of our mission. And we've been looking for ways to do this. And we were inspired, particularly for this Dominican rosary pilgrimage by something that the Dominicans do in Lourdes, France every year.
And that sort of a response to Our Lady's repeated call, as she has appeared to several visionaries, you know, in Fatima, Lourdes elsewhere, calling for us to pray the rosary regularly.
While the actual pilgrimage is just one day, the journey began in January with a nine month novena to prepare for the event on the eve of the Feast of the Holy Rosary.
FR. JOHN PAUL KERN
Spokesperson, Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage
We have this sort of beginning the pilgrimage in different places. And also kind of like famous pilgrimages like the Camino de Santiago, you can have many different starting points. So like people might end up there at the end together. Some of whom started months in advance; others who joined in a couple weeks later at different locations. And so we have people that have been getting on board and starting to pray the monthly novena prayers or see like our monthly reflection videos joining us along the way.
Fr. John Paul says they chose 9 months rather than 9 days or weeks as it corresponds to the 9 months Mary carried Jesus in her womb.
The first ever Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage is one initiative looking to revive the tradition of praying the rosary and on reviving the Catholic faith in the United States.
KG
