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In parishes across our Diocese this weekend, parishioners will hear an appeal for donations to support the Lourdes Pilgrimage Fund. Each year, the diocesan Pilgrimage takes around 700 people to Lourdes, of whom around 140 are Assisted Pilgrims who are frail, elderly, disabled or sick, and last year 150 young people between aged 15 and 29. Lourdes is a place of renewal and a place where our relationship with Jesus is deepened, however, the pilgrimage relies on the generous help and support of people across our family of faith to provide financial help to many Assisted Pilgrims, and those who will care for them during our pilgrimage week.

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47 diocesan parishes held a collection for the Lourdes Pilgrimage last year, with donations from people across our church communities enabling our pilgrimage team to offer vital subsidies amounting to £64,000, to pilgrims who would have struggled to afford the journey otherwise.

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In this Jubilee year, the Pilgrimage also intend to use some funds to enable young people to answer the invitation to journey “with Mary, Pilgrims of Hope”, helping them to deepen their relationship with God, and encouraging them to share their experience with their parish communities. With the help of those who are able to give this weekend, many more people will be able to answer Our Lady’s call, join our special Pilgrimage to Lourdes this summer, and benefit from the many graces available in Lourdes.

Across the years our Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes has enabled so many people to encounter God’s love and healing, not just the physical healing of the miracles that have famously taken place there but the spiritual, emotional, and psychological healing. We have been blessed as a Diocese with many vocations that have been ignited through pilgrimage, vocations to the priesthood, deaconate, religious life, doctors, nurses, teachers, marriage and so many more.

The joy, comfort and peace that is found by so many pilgrims who join the pilgrimage, and who struggle every day with physical or mental frailty and sickness, is there for all to see during the pilgrimage week. In many cases, it also gives the carers of those people at home, a well-earned respite break for a week, when they can rest and relax knowing that their loved one is being cared for by the dedicated medical and care team in Lourdes.

The Pilgrimage continues to be acutely aware that we live in challenging financial times, and there are many calls on everyone's pockets. However, it is becoming increasingly costly to support those who need our help, especially as endeavours are made to keep the costs as low as possible for everyone. It is only with your help and support that we can take so many sick and disabled pilgrims and their carers with us – who in other circumstances could not begin to contemplate the journey, let alone the financial burden that a week in France entails.

With the help of those who are able to give this weekend, many more people who additionally struggle with the financial commitment that is necessary for them to answer Our Lady’s call, will be able to join the Pilgrimage to Lourdes this summer, and benefit from the many graces available in Lourdes.

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If you wish to donate to the Lourdes Pilgrimage, please click the button below.