A first-time pilgrimage to the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy led by St. Patrick’s Cathedral is scheduled for Saturday, May 16.
The bus from Manhattan will depart at 7 a.m., and return from Stockbridge at 7 p.m. The pilgrimage will be led by Father Enrique Salvo, rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Father Chris Alar, MIC (Marians of the Immaculate Conception).
Father Alar, based in Stockbridge, is the provincial superior of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception located in the United States, England, and Argentina. He wrote and produced the “Divine Mercy 101” DVD and the “Explaining the Faith” YouTube series. He is the author of “After Suicide: There’s Hope for Them and for You.”
The pilgrimage day will feature a talk by Father Alar, a guided tour of the shrine’s grounds, a celebration of Mass, a Chaplet of Divine Mercy, confessions, private prayer, group reflections, and a closing prayer.
“Our Catholic faith teaches us that pilgrimages are always important, whether they are to faraway places, like the Holy Land, which was the original place of pilgrimage, or whether they are places that are closer to home,” Father Salvo told The Good Newsroom via telephone last week. “Either way, it’s a spiritual journey in which we leave our homes to go find an encounter with God.”
He noted that pilgrimages help us “grow in our faith, to learn more about the history of our faith, and to be open to a lot of grace. In this case, we’re going to the Divine Mercy Shrine. We at St. Patrick’s Cathedral have a great devotion to the Divine Mercy. We have the image of the Divine Mercy on display the entire year. It’s one of the most popular altars that we have. The pilgrimage is at capacity already (around 40).”
A shrine with deep roots in American Catholic history
Divine Mercy Sunday, also known as the Feast of the Divine Mercy, is celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter, which concludes the Octave of Easter.
The Divine Mercy Shrine’s origins date back to 1943, when Father Walter Pelczynski, MIC, was sent to find a suitable place for a Marian novitiate. With the help of local community members and the Marian Fathers, they purchased Eden Hill in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Eden Hill already had a rich history. It once served as a Christian mission to the Stockbridge Indians and later housed St. Edmund’s School. By 1944, a small community chapel with a side altar dedicated to the Divine Mercy had been established.
In 1996, the church was designated the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy, recognizing its significance as a pilgrimage site for Catholics from across the United States. The central mission of the Shrine is to proclaim the message of Divine Mercy as revealed to St. Faustina in 1931.
Born in Nicaragua, Father Salvo was appointed rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in November 2021. Before that, he was pastor of St. Anselm and St. Roch parish in the Bronx and dean of Bronx West. He served as regional dean of the South Bronx, 2019-2021.
Before becoming pastor of St. Anselm and St. Roch in 2017, Father Salvo was administrator there for a year. He was director of vocations for the archdiocese, 2012-2016. He served as parochial vicar of St. Elizabeth parish in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, 2010-2012. Father Salvo was ordained a priest of the New York archdiocese in 2010.
For more information, email development@saintpatrickscathedral.org or visit https://www.shrineofdivinemercy.org.