Greetings.

We hope you all are all well and ready for some exciting updates in our first Lourdes newsletter of the year!

The International Committee for the Lourdes Pilgrimage got together on February 9th in Lourdes, where members from all over the world assembled to plan for the upcoming Pilgrimage. During the weekend, the Committee met to discuss and coordinate the events of our week in Lourdes.

One of the highlights was the restructuring of the Eucharistic Procession so it can be shorter and allow our malades and caregivers to be less exposed to inclement weather all while maintaining the reverence and beauty of the Procession. This ought to be well-received for roughly 8,000 of us from over 30 countries!

There are some additional changes we are excited to report. First is that the Hotel Mediterranee has all new carpeting and décor in the rooms. The hotel looks terrific! Second, the Jeanne d arc’ has sold a portion of its hotel including the lovely establishment where we often gather at the end of a busy day.

But don’t worry…our friend Helen (the owner) has relocated Mac’s piano and we will be able to carry on our tradition of our late-night sing-a-longs! Lastly, the bathes have been reopened for full immersion. We need to make sure we have appropriate procedures and staffing in place for full immersion, so more to come on this.

While in Lourdes, we took the opportunity to light a candle and pray in the grotto for all of you, for our blessed malades and for our caregivers. We prayed that our Lady of Lourdes guides us and that we may all feel the friendship, love, charity, hope and grace that are part of the miracle of a pilgrimage to Lourdes.

We are excited to be in Lourdes with all of you for our 37th annual Pilgrimage to Lourdes in just a couple months!

Regards,

Stacey and Mitch

Co-Presidents Lourdes Pilgrimage