FW: Young Adult Pilgrimage - Sunday/Monday - May 19-20
Stephanie Satoh
Pay the registration fee here and then RSVP via Facebook. Questions? con...@juventutemmichigan.com
On Pentecost Sunday and Pentecost Monday 2013, Juventutem Michigan is taking over organization of the Pilgrimage for Christian Culture for the first time. We believe that ordinary lay Catholics can and should work together to transform our culture.
A pilgrimage is a journey made to a holy place or shrine for the sanctification of the pilgrim; with the purpose of venerating a saint or martyr associated with the site; to pray to God; to ask for supernatural aid; to give thanks for favors received; or to discharge a religious obligation. The arduous journey, offered joyfully to God, represents our spiritual pilgrimage to the Heavenly City.
Modeled after the annual 10,000 pilgrim Pèlerinage de Chartres Pentecôte (which JM’s organizers have observed from afar) and the 100 pilgrim Pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Cape (which JM board members made, in 2012), 2013′s Pentecost Pilgrimage continues the focus that Ann Arbor’s Generation Christ identified when founding the pilgrimage in 2010: Christian Culture – both making concrete efforts towards Christian Culture in our liturgies and celebrations en route and praying that God would inspire the pilgrims as to how they might best win the culture for Christ when the pilgrimage has been completed.
Mass is celebrated each day of the pilgrimage in the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite, the traditional liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, by pastors who have welcomed us to visit their parishes. The pilgrimage will begin on Sunday, May 19th, when Msgr. Edward Hankiewicz celebrates a 12:30 p.m. Missa Cantata at St. Mary, Lowell, MI. The pilgrims will then walk 33 miles to Westphalia, camping for the night at the pilgrimage’s midway point in Ionia. The pilgrimage will conclude on Monday, May 20, when Fr. James Conlon celebrates a 5:00 p.m. Missa Cantata at St. Mary, Westphalia, MI. Afterward there will be a picnic and party for pilgrims and other Mass attendees.
Our chaplain is Fr. Pieter van Rooyen of the Diocese of Lansing. Father is normally available to hear confessions in Spanish and English, throughout the pilgrimage, en route, in camp or before Mass.
During the first day, the pilgrimage route follows rail trails – near, alongside, and over the Grand River, from Lowell to Ionia. Pilgrims who make the first day’s travels are strongly encouraged to wear full hiking boots, as track ballast (large, crushed rocks) covers the day’s whole route. During the second day, tennis shoes will probably suffice for travel over paved pathways and dirt roads. There is one long railingless bridge that the first day’s pilgrims will cross. 
We asked that you register and contribute $30 (one day pilgrim) or $40 (both day pilgrim) to support the efforts of our logistics pilgrims (whose efforts are modeled on Marie Reine’sSt. Joseph Chapter and who will provide for food, water, and shelter, and will work to address medical needs and emergencies). If you cannot afford that whole amount, please donate what you can.
The full set of pictures from 2010′s pilgrimage can be viewed here. A selection follows. 
