By Jennifer Mauro | Associate Editor
In anticipation of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, parishes around the Diocese will be participating in a series of traveling torch lightings, or “Las Antorchas Guadalupanas,” from the end of October to the beginning of December, which will culminate in a multicultural – and multi-county – pilgrimage celebration in Trenton.
“It’s a beautiful way to evangelize and include everyone,” said Josué Arriola, director of the diocesan Department of Youth, Marriage and Family Life, which is sponsoring the celebration as the Year of Mercy comes to a close.
Unity in faith is one of the main ideas behind the celebration for Our Lady of Guadalupe, the “patroness of the Americas” who appeared in 1531 in Mexico to the peasant Juan Diego, working a miracle through him that helped unite Latinos and has converted millions to Catholicism ever since.
Beginning the weekend of Oct. 29-30, select parishes in each of the Diocese’s four counties will light a torch that will travel to five or six other parishes within that county throughout the month of November. Attached to each of the four torches will be a small beam adorned with cloths bearing the names of the participating parishes. A cloth will be added each time the torch travels to a new parish.
Parishes hosting the torch are planning special events around each visit as well.
On Dec. 3, celebrations will come to a crescendo when everyone from around the Diocese is invited to take part in a pilgrimage through the streets of Trenton. Starting at Immaculate Conception Church, a worship site of Our Lady of the Angels Parish, groups from Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean counties will carry their torches to St. Joseph Church, where they will be met by those from Mercer County. Together, the throngs of faithful will continue to St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral on North Warren Street for Mass. During the pilgrimage, there will be fellowship, recitation of the Rosary and music provided from choirs of all ages.
“This will help those families who have a dedication to Our Lady of Guadalupe bring the faith to their kids,” Arriola said. “And for those who don’t know her, it’s a shared message to grow in faith.”
After Mass in the cathedral, there will be traditional Hispanic music, dances, food and more in the lower level of the cathedral as well as the parish gymnasium across the street.
For those unable to take part in the walk, the pilgrimage will be streamed live online, allowing the festivities to be shown on large screens in the lower level of the cathedral as well as broadcast across multiple social-media platforms. The festivities after Mass will also be streamed live and shown on screens at the cathedral and the gymnasium so both locations can view each other’s celebrations.
The Diocese’s social media initiative will also be evident through the month of November, as photos, testimonies and more will be shared on Facebook – in Spanish at www.facebook.com/catolicosdetrenton, bilingually at www.dioceseoftrenton.org/Guadalupe2016 and on the Department of Youth, Marriage and Family Life page at www.facebook.com/dotfamilylife.
Many of the events through November, as well as the celebrations in Trenton, will be in Spanish, bilingual or trilingual (English, Portuguese and Spanish.)
“We realize a lot about Our Lady of Guadalupe appears in Mexico,” Arriola said. “But she’s the mother of God – she’s Mary. She unites all of us.”
The first torch will be lit Oct. 29 in St. Joachim Church, Trenton, a worship site of Our Lady of the Angels Parish, at the 6:30 p.m. Mass. The other three counties follow Oct. 30, with torches being lit at noon in St. Joan of Arc Church, Marlton; 11 a.m. in St. Robert Bellarmine Church, Freehold, and 4 p.m. in St. Anthony Claret Church, Lakewood.
Matt Greeley, the Diocese’s associate director of communications and editor of Peces, its Spanish-language newspaper, is enthusiastic not only about the many social media initiatives surrounding the Our Lady of Guadalupe events, but also its multiculturalism.
“This is a celebration for all nations,” Greeley said. “As the patron saint of the Americas, she brings us all together.”
For more information, including a map of parishes hosting the torch, visit www.dioceseoftrenton.org/Guadalupe2016. Check back to the Guadalupe Facebook site as well as www.facebook.com/catolicosdetrenton or www.facebook.com/dotfamilylife throughout the entire celebration for updated photos, comments, stories and more.