Note: The Bishop’s Youth Pilgrimage is canceled for 2020.
BELMONT — All middle school and high school youth of the diocese are invited to attend the 16th annual Bishop’s Youth Pilgrimage Saturday, April 4, at Belmont Abbey College for a day of fellowship, prayer and Eucharistic Adoration.
This annual youth event is a component of the annual Eucharistic Congress and shares the congress theme, which is “Be Holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
During the day-long event, which will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., diocesan youth will enjoy live music and motivational speakers, as well as Eucharistic Adoration and a Eucharistic Procession on the historic Belmont Abbey College campus.
There will be separate program tracks for middle and high school youths, and the sacrament of confession will also be available from priests of the diocese.
Johnny Philip, a Catholic speaker and musician based out of Fort Worth, Texas, will serve as emcee for the event. He will also deliver the keynote address to the youth.
Singer-songwriter and speaker Andrew Laubacher will provide music for the youth pilgrimage.
Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari will offer Mass for participants at 11:15 a.m. The Eucharistic Procession and Adoration with Bishop Peter Jugis will begin at 1:50 p.m.
Registration for the youth pilgrimage is $15. The fee includes a pizza lunch, a soft drink and a specially-designed pilgrimage T-shirt if you register by Friday, March 13.
For details, go online to www.goeucharist.com.
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
Did you know?
The Bishop’s Youth Pilgrimage is significantly funded by contributions to the annual Diocesan Support Appeal. Learn more about the DSA and donate online at www.charlottediocese.org/dsa.
‘I thought we could use a strong father to restore order to all of this chaos’
CHARLOTTE — Parishioners across the Diocese of Charlotte are encouraged to make a consecration to St. Joseph during this special Year of St. Joseph.
One of the recommended resources for a consecration to St. Joseph is a new book: “Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father,” written by Marian Father Donald Calloway. Father Calloway serves as vocation director of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception and currently resides in Steubenville, Ohio.
“This year marks the 150th anniversary of when Blessed Pope Pius IX declared St. Joseph the Patron of the Universal Church, so this year is very significant,” Father Calloway said. “I said to myself, ‘We have a real crisis today in families where the family has been redefined. We have these so-called ‘modern families’ and there is gender confusion.’ I thought we could use a strong father to restore order to all of this chaos. I thought, ‘It has got to be St. Joseph.’”
After researching, writing and translating works into English over the course of three years, Father Calloway comprised the book drawing on the wealth of the Church’s tradition.
“All children resemble their parents. As our spiritual parents, Our Lady and St. Joseph, we are called to resemble them in virtue. I am hoping that people will walk away from this consecration with a great knowledge of St. Joseph and how much he loves them and how much he wants to protect them during these crazy times,” Father Calloway said.
The book focuses on the virtues of St. Joseph: his patience, prudence, faith and purity for example.
The Consecration to St. Joseph emulates the Marian consecration made popular by St. Louis de Montfort, highlighting many of St. Joseph’s titles, privileges and heroic virtues.
The program of preparation and consecration takes 33 days. Participants spend about 20-30 minutes a day on a short exposition on one of the invocations in the powerful Litany of St. Joseph, followed by a reading about St. Joseph, and concluding with the recitation of the Litany of St. Joseph.
The consecration to St. Joseph can be done anytime, but particular feast days such as March 19 or May 1 are special opportunities to focus this devotional effort.
On the day of consecration, use whichever act of consecration you prefer or compose your own act of consecration to St. Joseph. Find suggestions online at www.yearofstjoseph.org.
Some parishes are organizing special Masses or opportunities to participate in the consecration as a group. Check with your parish office for details.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter; www.consecrationtostjoseph.org contributed.
More info
At www.consecrationtostjoseph.org: Learn more about what it means to consecrate yourself to St. Joseph, and order the book “Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father”
St. Joseph Prayer Books available
CHARLOTTE — To commemorate the diocese’s Year of St. Joseph, “The St. Joseph Prayer Book” has been compiled to assist the faithful in their prayers to St. Joseph, the Protector of the Church.
Produced by St. Benedict Press, “The St. Joseph Prayer Book” contains all the famous prayers: the Novena for a Special Favor, the Litany of St. Joseph, 30 Days’ Prayer to St. Joseph, the Memorare, as well as prayers for purity, conversion, a happy death, and more. In total, the book contains more than 50 prayers, litanies and novenas. A Spanish version is also available.
Included in this commemorative edition is a letter from Bishop Peter Jugis about his declaration of 2020 as the Year of St. Joseph, as well as passport-type pages in the back of the book for pilgrims to have stamped as they visit each St. Joseph parish in our diocese throughout the year.
Take advantage of this special, limited-time offer to gift this treasury of prayers and bring souls closer to Jesus through St. Joseph. Orders are being accepted online at www.saintbenedictpress.com. Search for “The St. Joseph Prayer Book.” Cost is $12.95. Some parishes have also purchased copies, so check with your parish to see if books are available for purchase in the parish office.
— Catholic News Herald; St. Benedict Press contributed.
More online
At www.yearofstjoseph.org: Find educational resources, prayers and devotions, and “Year of St. Joseph” event details from across the diocese, as dates for special events are finalized.