WASHINGTON, D.C. — In calling for the Jubilee Year 2025 themed “Pilgrims of Hope,” Pope Francis called pilgrimages a way “to build communion, to make us feel less alone, to rediscover the importance of walking together.”
“May you always find those glimmers of goodness that inspire us to hope,” he wrote.
The first pilgrimage of the Jubilee Year from the Diocese of Charlotte to Washington, D.C., featured not just glimmers of goodness but radiant beams of hope, invigorating its 100 pilgrims with a renewed passion for the Catholic faith.
“We go home now renewed with a deeper conviction and a deeper confidence in who we are, Christ’s People of Life, to bring the good news and the joy and the truth that we have seen during this pilgrimage home, and not to let it pass away from us,” said organizer Father Peter Ascik in his homily for the pilgrimage’s closing Mass.
The Jan. 23-25 trip included participating in the National March for Life in Washington, D.C., bookended by visits to two pilgrimage sites: the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington and the Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria, Va.
As they left Charlotte early Thursday morning, the two busloads of pilgrims knew where they were headed: the highlight of their trip, the March for Life. And for many, the visits to the two Jubilee Year basilicas were bonuses.
PART OF SOMETHING PROFOUND
The largest Catholic church building in North America, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is known for its striking Romanesque-Byzantine domes, its intricate collection of glass and marble mosaics, and numerous statues of Jesus, Mary and the saints. Yet even the exquisite work of sculptural art “Mary Immaculate Accompanied by Angels,” by Ivan
Meštrović, seemed to fall short of the magnitude and uniqueness of God’s art: the 5,000 souls crowded inside for Mass Thursday night.
Pilgrims were wowed by the beautiful artwork, but the unity they felt was what stuck most in their memories.
When people go on pilgrimage, Father Ascik explained, “we see ourselves as part of something greater than us. We come from different parishes, different towns in North Carolina, and now we see ourselves together. We stepped out of our own lives, and we are part of the People of God, the People of Life. (God) calls us out from all different places and cultures to be His people, people chosen by Him to make one Body on the cross made holy by Him.”
The profound pilgrimage experience solidified the plans of first-time marcher Kyrien Keeton, 18, from Holy Family Parish in Clemmons. She’s been mulling a religious vocation, and seeing people with religious vocations from all walks of life at the events in D.C. was inspiring.
“I had never seen so many Catholics in one place – so many seminarians, so many sisters,” Keeton said. “It was so eye-opening to me – they looked so joyous, so jubilant.
“I knew in my mind there was absolutely no question that this is what I want to do. I want to be like them in the next jubilee year. I want to be wearing the habit, and I want to be in my (religious) order, worshiping at Mass.”
Keeton wasn’t the only one who felt the Holy Spirit nudging her.
Fellow pilgrim Savannah Keeting, a Drexel High School student from St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Gastonia, said she was moved Thursday night during Life Fest, a popular pre-March for Life event organized by the Sisters of Life and the Knights of Columbus.
“I saw these two sisters just talking to each other,” Keeting said. “I don’t know what came to me, but I was overwhelmed with tears because something changed in me.”
Heather Martin, who helped guide the pilgrimage along with her husband Deacon Tom Martin of St. Mark Parish in Huntersville, said the Jubilee Year pilgrimage was filled with such experiences for participants.
“The grace stories that people shared on the bus trip were so inspiring,” she said. “We loved the joy and energy of the college students and the wit and wisdom of the older folks, our age and beyond.”
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
The pilgrimage ended Saturday with a tour and Mass at a second Jubilee Year site: the Basilica of St. Mary, the oldest Catholic church in Virginia.
The church was built in 1795 thanks to benefactors including President George Washington.
Brian and Laura Misiak brought their three sons on the pilgrimage and were excited about ending the journey at the historic basilica.
“To come to a church with such history and such beautiful stained-glass windows was moving,” Brian Misiak said. “It was the perfect way to wrap up the last three days of our trip, helping us all to appreciate the deeper meaning and the biblical context of the word pilgrimage.”
There at St. Mary’s, the pilgrims took part in another important part of the Jubilee Year: obtaining a plenary, or full, indulgence – remission of temporal punishment for one’s sins.
Pilgrims quickly formed lines for confessions when Father Ascik announced the requirements to receive the indulgence: confession within 20 days before or after the visit, receiving
Communion, and reciting the prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father.
With the help of Deacon Martin, Father Ascik arranged to offer Mass, calling on pilgrims to serve as lectors, altar boys and ushers. He randomly chose the pilgrims, unaware of their backgrounds and how their personalities linked to their roles.
One of the Misiak brothers, Nicholas, 18, was asked to be an altar server. Nicholas said later that he has been discerning for two years about applying for seminary and hopes one day to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice on his own parish’s altar.
Holly Reed, a Catholic convert, was chosen to be the lector. That day happened to be the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, and the Mass reading she gave from the Book of Acts recounted
St. Paul’s encounter with Jesus and conversion while on the road to Damascus.
It was a moving moment for the former self-described pagan. Ten years ago, Reed said, she experienced a “road” of her own. She and her husband Tim were heavily into the occult. They both hated and mocked Christianity, yet Reed kept noticing images of the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing during her day-to-day activities.
“It was wild, because I didn’t want anything to do with it because she was Christian,” Reed said. “She kept appearing in pictures, I kept hearing her name, I saw her in statues and books.”
Passing a Catholic church one day, Reed wandered inside on impulse. “I thought, being a good pagan, I was going to sit in front of the statue and worship Mary the deity, the goddess.”
Instead, she recalled, she felt Mary’s presence and an internal voice telling her, “I am so glad you are here; now I want you to stay for Mass.” Reed believes it was the voice of Our Lady, and she started on her journey to becoming Catholic.
“When the Lord wants you, He is going to call you, and He is going to make sure you know that You are His,” Reed said.
“Christ is here to make all things new,” Father Ascik emphasized in his homily at St. Mary’s to conclude the Jubilee Year pilgrimage. That knowledge gives people hope, he said.
“That is what this year means. Hope means we have a future, and each one has a future, and not one of us has reached the end of the road. There is still something more that God has for us and something that is beyond what we even thought.”
— Lisa Geraci, Aidan Creter and Amelia Kudela
