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From November 9-15, 2024, Fr. Andrew Summerson and his wife Laura, from St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Parish in Whiting, Indiana, once again led a pilgrimage to a renowned site of a Marian apparition. Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Mexico, is one of the largest Marian pilgrimage destinations in the world. At the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, pilgrims come to venerate and pray before the image that the Theotokos herself imprinted on the tilma of a humble Indian convert, Juan Diego. What is unique about the pilgrimages led by Fr. Andrew and Laura is that pilgrims are given a
chance to tour the significant historical sites, both religious and secular, of the nation to put the miraculous Marian apparition into fuller context.
Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego in 1531 when the native Aztec population followed a religion that was essentially an astral mythology that included
human sacrifice. It was also the time when missionaries from Europe were bringing Christianity to this land. Learning about the pagan, secular, and Christian history of Mexican culture revealed that Mexico is a land of contrast. This was aptly symbolized in the two women who are most revered in Mexico—Our Lady of Guadalupe from the culture of life and light, and the artist Frida Kahlo, whose life was one of much darkness. There is great
Catholic piety in Mexico, but at the same time, the recent history of Mexico is marked by rebellion and persecution of the Catholic Church.
In addition to the historical sites of Mexico, the pilgrims visited and worshiped at two Byzantine Catholic Churches in Mexico: the Melkite Church of Porta Celi and the Ruthenian Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Puebla.
