The Lough Derg three-day pilgrimage season of 2016 will begin on 1 June and continue until 15 August. Pilgrims can begin their pilgrimage on any day up to and including 13 August, with One Day Retreats recommencing after this on Sunday 21 August.
The pilgrimage follows a 1000-year-old pattern of prayer, and every pilgrim receives the pilgrimage programme when they arrive. Over the course of the three days, pilgrims will take part in various spiritual activities, including a 24-hour Vigil and the completion of nine ‘Station’ prayers at various locations on the island, along with fasting and prayer and reflection in bare feet.
Pilgrims in this Jubilee Year of Mercy will also have the opportunity to pass through the Holy Door of Mercy on the island. Speaking ahead of the 2016 pilgrimage season, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, His Excellency Archbishop Charles Brown, said, ‘It is really wonderful that during this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, pilgrims have the opportunity to pass through a specially dedicated Holy Door on this holy island. By doing so we, the pilgrims to Lough Derg – in the words of Pope Francis himself – ask, “the Father to forgive our sins and to bathe us in his merciful ‘indulgence’” (cf. Misericordiae Vultus, 22)’.
Several dioceses have booked pilgrimages to Lough Derg during the three-day pilgrimage season. For more information on three-day pilgrimages, or to join a group pilgrimage, visit www.loughderg.org.
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