Deacons’ Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

For the first two weeks of January each year, the fourth year deacon class here at Notre Dame takes a pilgrimage to the Holy Land as they enter their final preparation to be priests for the Church. While there, they are able to walk in the footsteps of Christ and pray at the significant places mentioned in Scripture. Every ear, this experience deepens the spirituality and reality of the story of salvation history for the men preparing to enter the priesthood.

This year, thirteen deacons, accompanied by Archbishop Alfred Hughes as their chaplain for the trip, spent ten days following in the footsteps of Jesus as they spent time in Galilee, Nazareth, and Jerusalem. The shores of the Sea of Galilee, Mary’s home in Nazareth where the angel announced the coming of Christ, and the empty tomb of Christ. They also had the blessing of praying the Angelus in Mary’s house and following the Way of the Cross in Jerusalem concluding on Golgotha and the Holy Sepulcher. They had an audience with the apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem who is fulfilling the role of Latin Patriarch. They were able to take time to pray at the Western Wall and the sites in the Passion of the Lord. On their final night in the Holy Land, three men arranged to spend the night in a prayerful vigil in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.