Mags GarganThe 60th anniversary of Diocese of Killaloe’s first diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes was “an experience of mercy”, according to Fr Tom Ryan, the pilgrimage director at Cote Grotto, who celebrated the pilgrimage’s opening Mass assisted by 12 priests who had been among 450 pilgrims who had travelled from the diocese.
As part of this year’s jubilee celebrations, the pilgrimage’s Blessed Sacrament procession saw the pilgrims entering the underground Basilica of St Pius X through the basilica’s Door of Mercy; the anointing of the sick took place at Mass there, and that night, the Knocekerra Church Choir was invited to stand on the steps of the Rosary Basilica and led singing for all 30,000 pilgrims at the shrine.
At the following day’s Eucharistic Hour Nenagh’s Fr Michael Geraghty told how it was only when he felt God had abandoned him that he learned to place all his trust in the Lord.
The pilgrimage candle was blessed and a farewell ceremony took place in the Basilica of Pius X, with Portroe’s Fr Fergal O’Neill celebrating the pilgrimage’s final Mass.