From time to time, pilgrimages are organised to local or international destinations of significance to the Catholic faith:

 In February 2009, Father John led a 10 day pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  In visiting the land where Jesus walked and ministered, the pilgrims hoped to offer support and encouragement to the Christian communities there and to all who work for peace and justice in the country of Palestine. 

As part of the preparation for this event, four preparatory talks were, to help understand the cultural, political and religious values into which we would be travelling.

More information on pilgrimages to the Holy Land is available on the McCabes Travel website. Click here

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In 2006, there was a parish pilgrimage to Rome.  It was an opportunity to touch the roots of our faith and to attend a papal Audience, united with Catholics from around the world.  We visited the places associated with Peter, Paul and the martyrs who lived and died in the earliest days of Christianity in Rome.  Mass was celebrated at the Church of St Gregory who, in sending Augustine to England in 597AD, forged a deep link between Rome and the Church in Britain.  There were visits to the Venerable English College with its connections to St Ralph Sherwin of Rodsley, and the Beda College for tea with seminarians from the diocese.

Since Fathers Tim O’Sullivan and John Younger led a pilgrimage as the final celebration in 1986 of the 25^th anniversary of Our Lady of Lourdes, Mickleover, there have been regular parish pilgrimages to Lourdes.  These journeys have offered a time to pray, to deepen faith, to share stories and enjoy the company and friendship of each other in the place where Our Lady appeared to St Bernadette 150 years ago.  Members of the parish who are sick have had a special place on these pilgrimages and those who remained in the parish because of illness have had a special place in the pilgrims’ prayers.  In visiting this small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees, we can begin to understand the significance of the dedication of our parish to Our Lady of Lourdes.

To visit the Lourdes website, click here (Link opens in a new window)

In June each year there is a diocesan pilgrimage to Rodsley, a few miles down the road from Mickleover, to remember and give thanks for the life of St Ralph Sherwin who was born there in 1550.  Finishing his studies at the English College in Rome in 1580, he returned to this country eager to spread the banned Roman Catholic faith.  He was arrested while preaching and martyred at Tyburn in 1581 along with Edmund Campion and Alexander Briant.  They were among the forty martyrs of England and Wales who were canonised in Rome in 1970.

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