ATLANTA—Msgr. Dan Stack, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Alpharetta, will lead a five-day pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City March 1-5, 2019. The Georgia Bulletin is sponsoring this pilgrimage next spring. Reservations are now being accepted.

Msgr. Dan Stack

Msgr. Stack, who is bilingual, invites pilgrims to join him in this “inspiring pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.” He added, “I have been going to Mexico (nearly) annually for 25 years. Mexico City is a marvelous place to visit—it was a city when New York was still a collection of simple buildings on the tip of Manhattan.” He said that the city “has all the amenities you expect of a world capital: architecture, theater, great restaurants, museums (the Anthropology Museum is considered the best in the world) and beautiful public spaces.”

He also said, “Best of all, Mexico is Catholic! There are churches all around, and almost all of them are Catholic. You will see images of our Lord, his Blessed Mother and saints and angels everywhere. Behind the cathedral and under the basilica are rows of stores selling religious books and devotional images. Cab drivers even make the sign of the cross when they pass in front of a church.”

The itinerary for the pilgrimage features a number of inspiring Catholic sites. The group will leave on Friday, March 1, departing Atlanta for Mexico City. The first day will include Mass together at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe and viewing the original sackcloth of St. Juan Diego bearing the image of Our Lady.

The group will visit Tulpetlac, Cuautitlan and Teotihuacan, with Mass at Tulpetlac Church, the site of the fifth apparition of Mary. The birthplace of St. Juan Diego is in Cuautitlan. The group will also journey to the Pyramids of Teotihuacan, the temple of Quetzalcoatl and other structures of historical interest.

On the third day, the group will return to the Shrine to visit the Shrine Museum, Gardens, and the Chapel of the Indians. One of the stops on the trip is the Anthropology Museum in Chapultepec Park, which includes collections of archaeological and anthropological artifacts from pre-Hispanic Mayan civilizations.

The group will visit Mexico City for a day of fascinating sights, including the floating gardens of Xochimilco, Mass at the Church of San Francisco, the Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Palace in Zocalo. Also planned are visits to the Plaza de las Culturas, Santiago Church and Plaza de Santo Domingo.

The best part of the trip, Msgr. Stack said, is the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He said, “I could call it Tepeyac Hill because the structure encompasses the entire hill on which our Lady appeared to St. Juan Diego in 1531. You can see the ‘old basilica,’ which many of us love because it is baroque. However, the new basilica is a marvel. The new basilica is designed to hold thousands of people in a way that they can participate in the liturgy fully and actively.”

Msgr. Stack said, “So, I invite you to come with me to Mexico. We will have fun. We will see beautiful things. We will eat good food, and we will have an amazing spiritual experience.”