Our Pilgrimage - a Message from Bishop Richard

Lourdes is a place of renewal, a place where our relationship with Christ is deepened. Making the journey means entering a space in which we can be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in ways that, perhaps, we would never have thought possible before. The experience of pilgrimage changes us as we spend time in quiet reflection; as we open ourselves to forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the healing in the Sacrament of the Sick; as we receive the Eucharist that is the summit of all prayer.

Each year we bring with us in mind and heart those who cannot travel with us for whatever reason; those who have been with us on previous pilgrimages and have now gone before us marked with the sign of faith; the needs of a world that is torn apart in so many ways. Each pilgrimage is a time of blessing for pilgrims, especially the sick and frail, for our Diocese and – because the power of prayer knows no bounds – for the wider world.

Our pilgrimage to Lourdes is one of the most significant pastoral events in our diocesan calendar each year. Pilgrims travel in response to the call of Our Blessed Mother to St Bernadette, coming to the Shrine to wash in the waters of the spring and to pray.

With every blessing,