Lent, the 40-day Christian season of fasting and prayer in remembrance of the days Christ spent in the wilderness before his crucifixion, is a time for pilgrimage. Metaphorically, it is a spiritual journey, reflecting on their faith and preparing for reconciliation.
The period is also a period for corporeal pilgrimage. Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, declared 2025 the year of ‘pilgrims of hope’.
In Mumbai, Catholics are making a formal pilgrimage to sacred sites designated for the year, on foot, by bike, and by bus. Father Nigel Barrett, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Bombay, said, “As a church, we like to engage with our community in different ways. By combining a bike ride with a faith journey to a pilgrim center, we wish to emphasise that faith and the secular world can integrate seamlessly. After all, our very lives are a journey that hopes to get us back into the arms of the almighty,” said Barrett.Mumbai Catholics Embark On Bike Pilgrimages
Mumbai Catholics Embark On Bike Pilgrimages |
Mumbai Catholics Embark On Bike Pilgrimages |
Mumbai Catholics Embark On Bike Pilgrimages |
For 128 young members of 31 churches in Mumbai, that journey was on bikes. The team, including 30 women, rode 78 bikes from Infant Jesus Church, Jogeshwari, to Our Lady of Fatima Shrine, Karjat on March 30.
Father Daniel Fernandes, co-pastor of Infant Jesus Church, said, “The bike pilgrimage is a contemporary way of making faith relevant to the youth, getting them back to church and God.”
Lency D’Souza, a member of the group, said the journey took four hours. “At Karjat, we recited the Station of the Cross and celebrated the Holy Eucharist. We had a one-hour halt at the Animation and Renewal Centre, Panvel,” said D’Souza.
On Friday, April, 4, The Daughters of St Paul, an order of nuns, will organise ‘A Walk With Mary to Calvary’, an enactment on the ‘Way of the cross’ – remembering the 14 incidents leading to Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, at Mt Carmel Church, Bandra.
The next day, Catholics will take part in the ‘All Mumbai Walking Pilgrimage’ from the crucifix at Cross Maidan, Dhobi Talao to Mount Mary’s Basilica, Bandra, where a religious service will be held. The walk will start at 10:30 pm and end in the early hours of Saturday. Former Archbishop Oswald Cardinal Gracias will flag off the walk, and Archbishop John Rodrigues will celebrate the mass.
Members of the St Peter’s Working Youth, Bandra, will take part in a ‘Lent on Wheels’, a unique Lenten bus journey on the evening of Sunday, April 6. They will stop at churches in Mazagon, Fort, and Mahim, taking part in the mass, music, and enacting the ‘Way of the Cross’. “It is nothing extravagant. We are just trying to get the youth together and closer to God,” said Father Ivan D’Souza of St Peter’s Church.
