SMYRNA—The Georgia Bulletin is hosting a pilgrimage to the Holy Land early in 2018, with spiritual guidance by Father Michael Silloway, chaplain at St. Pius X High School in Atlanta.

Father Michael Silloway
Photo By Michael Alexander

An information session will be held Thursday, Sept. 21, from 6:30-7:30 p.m., for those who are considering—or are already signed up for—the pilgrimage. All are welcome to attend the session, which will be held at the archdiocesan Chancery, 2401 Lake Park Drive, SE in Smyrna.

The pilgrimage tour director, Belinda Lewis Held, of Unitours, Inc., will be on hand to answer questions and describe the group’s planned 10-day trip from Feb. 22 to March 3, 2018, visiting various sites around the region of Tiberias and Jerusalem. The itinerary includes visits to Cana, the Sea of Galilee, the Mount of the Beatitudes, Mount Tabor, Jericho, the Church of the Pater Noster, Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity, Mount Zion, the Via Dolorosa and many more.

Robert Potts, marketing director for the Israel Ministry of Tourism, will also be present at the session, to provide his own interesting information and insights on the Holy Land.

Those who have already signed up as pilgrims are invited to attend the evening and will have the opportunity to meet others coming along on the trip.

In a letter, Father Silloway offered a hospitable welcome to those considering the trip: “I would like to invite you to prayerfully consider joining me and The Georgia Bulletin as we make a pilgrimage to the most sacred places of our Christian faith. In February 2018, it will be my honor to chaplain a group of travelers through the Holy Land, seeing first-hand places we’ve heard of in Scripture our whole lives. … Celebrating Masses and praying where the Word was made flesh, where Our Lord was baptized, where He was crucified, died, and rose from the dead.”

He said, “Imagine the graces that the Lord has in store when we go in faith to the places where our faith began. Imagine reading the Bread of Life discourse from John 6 in the actual spot where Our Lord originally said the words, ‘I am the bread that came down from Heaven’! What new life can enter our souls as we look out over the Sea of Galilee reading the Beatitudes from the Mount of Beatitudes! Or how deeply the Lord can speak to our hearts as we kneel at the spot of the Crucifixion where His mercy washes away our sins, then to see for ourselves the empty tomb from which He conquered even death itself!”

Father Silloway added, “I hope you will consider joining us on this incredible pilgrimage opportunity. This is the kind of trip that can literally change your life.”