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WHITING, Ind. — The smallest parish in Chicagoland hosted the first Midwest Marian pilgrimage Oct. 6-7. The two-day marathon of prayer included two bishops — one Eastern and one Western — and 250 faithful over the weekend.
St. Mary Parish in Whiting, Indiana, is home to an outdoor shrine altar dedicated to the Protection of the Mother of God. This past winter, Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, of Parma asked the parish to plan the regional pilgrimage on the weekend after the feast day, Oct. 1.
A team of dedicated volunteers and parishioners pulled the pilgrimage together, including a candlelight vigil and outdoor procession from the shrine altar to the Grotto of the Immaculate Conception, located 0.5 miles away. The rain that threatened the weekend held off for all of the outdoor activities.
While all of the liturgies and prayer services were Byzantine Catholic, the pilgrimage drew both Byzantine Catholic and Roman Catholic faithful of the region in prayer and worship.
“All weekend, Catholics in Chicagoland breathed with both the eastern and western lungs of the church. It was a powerful experience of communion,” said parish administrator Father Andrew Summerson.
Bishop Lach and Bishop Donald Hying of Gary, Indiana, each preached on the Mother of God and on how Christians should emulate her example. Both bishops walked in the candlelight procession and joined the faithful for the ethnic buffet.
Father Marek Visnovsky, protosyncellus of the eparchy, celebrated and preached the Slavonic liturgy. The experienced iconographer also gave a one-hour presentation on the spirituality of iconography.
Caption: A young pilgrim from Annunciation Parish in Homer Glen, Illinois, chants a Marian hymn during the candlelight procession of the first regional Midwest Marian pilgrimage, held in Whiting, Indiana, Oct. 6-7. About 250 people attended over the weekend. (Photo: David Bratnick)
As published in Horizons, Nov. 11, 2018.
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