(LifeSiteNews) — A rosary pilgrimage hosted by Dominican friars in Washington, D.C. next weekend is anticipated to draw thousands of participants seeking to grow closer to Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary through the mysteries of the rosary.
On September 30, 2023, the Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Joseph will lead a Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, near the campus of the Catholic University of America.
The pilgrimage, which is free to attend and will promote the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary, enables participants to “Hear life-changing talks from the Order of Preachers; celebrate Mass; and of course, pray the rosary,” according to a website set up to promote the event.
The event will open at 9:00 a.m. and the first talk will begin at 10:00, followed by Eucharistic adoration and confessions. A book signing, benediction, additional talks, and the praying of the Holy Rosary will follow in the afternoon, concluding with a 4:30 p.m. vigil Mass.
We are two weeks away from the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage!
Take a look at our schedule to prepare for the day! pic.twitter.com/02KZU9KF1k— Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage (@DominicanRosary) September 18, 2023
“It’ll be a day of intense pilgrimage, intense prayer, intense retreat,” said Dominican Friar Father Gregory Pine in a December, 2022 video message advertising the event in advance and encouraging interested viewers to take part in a nine-month novena leading up to the pilgrimage.
“We’ll have the opportunity to hear preaching about the Blessed Virgin Mary, to recite the most holy rosary, have your confession heard, to engage with the Dominican friars and sisters and laity…” he said, adding the participants may also get a chance to meet Dominican friars they’ve become familiar with through ministries like The Thomistic Institute and the podcast Godsplaining, in which friars including Pine converse about a range of philosophical, theological, and contemporary cultural issues.
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Pine, who also hosts a podcast on Catholic apologist Matt Fradd’s Pints with Aquinas and will lead two talks during the D.C. pilgrimage, said the event “will be a day filled with gifts and graces that the Lord wants to bestow upon us through the intercession of His mother.”
In a video message posted to social media on Tuesday, Father Peter John Cameron, O.P., said the pilgrimage will be “a day of prayer” as well as “worship,” “community,” and “reveling in the many graces that come, uniquely, through the great mystery and gift of the Holy Rosary.”
He cited Pope John Paul II, who said that it’s “through the rosary that Christ shapes our lives,” and that it’s also “through the rosary that we’re given an increasing knowledge of Jesus Christ.”
Cameron told viewers it will be “a tremendous honor and privilege” to “pray the rosary with [the] thousands of people who are expected to attend.”