
CV NEWS FEED: Next weekend will mark the thirtieth anniversary of a beloved Marian pilgrimage of Our Lady of Guadalupe in San Francisco.
Dedicated to Our Lady of Guadelupe in correspondence with her feast day, Cruzada Guadalupana is an 11 mile walking pilgrimage that begins in Southern San Francisco at All Souls Catholic Church and ends at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption.
Pilgrims also make a brief stop at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma before continuing on to the cathedral.
The Archbishop of San Francisco typically celebrates Mass for participants along the way, and pilgrims end their journey by making devotions to Our Lady of Guadelupe.
This year, the pilgrimage falls on December ninth.
The first year the pilgrimage took place, California natives Pedro and Martha Garcia began the journey with a group of 80 friends, and were met by others along the way.
Now, according to a news release from the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the pilgrimage has reached over 39,000 participants in recent years.
At last year’s pilgrimage, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone told participants in his homily:
Of course, [Mary] always comes to walk with us. The reason we ask her to do so is not to get her to pay attention to us so that she will come and walk with us, but rather to open our hearts in welcome, so that we might be ready to receive her when she comes and we might walk by her side that we might be ready to welcome her Son with open arms and open hearts, He who comes to meet us, to save us and to take us to the house of His Father.
Archbishop Cordileone will celebrate Mass again this year at the cathedral. This year, a special reception will take place afterwards to mark the pilgrimage’s 30th anniversary.
