Registration Open For 2017 Pilgrimage For Life

Many youth and adults from across the Diocese of Evansville have already registered for the 2016 Diocesan Pilgrimage for Life, which is scheduled for Jan. 25-29, 2017. As in the past, the trip will promote the advocation of respect for every life from conception to natural death.

  While many dioceses around the country focus their annual trips to Washington D.C., exclusively on ending abortion, the Evansville Diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry seeks to ensure that those who make the pilgrimage fully understand the entirety of the Church’s teaching on the dignity of the human person, increasing the appreciation of all life. As Bishop Charles C. Thompson has stated on numerous occasions, “To be pro-life means more than merely being anti-something: It requires us to value all human life as sacred from the moment of conception until natural death.”

  The pilgrimage, now in its seventh year, continues to assist youth and young adults in forming an accurate understanding of the Catholic focus on life. “The Pilgrimage for Life had a profound impact on me as a young person, and now I believe it is important for today’s youth to participate because all human life needs to be respected,” said Katie Goebel, youth minister of St. Philip Parish in Posey County and Corpus Christi Parish in Evansville.   

  Bishop Thompson will open the pilgrimage by celebrating Mass on Jan. 25 at Saint Ferdinand Parish in Ferdinand. Immediately following mass, our pilgrims will head to the Washington, D.C., area. Our pilgrims will participate in the Life is Very Good Rally, walk in the March for Life, visit the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, tour Gettysburg, Pa., the National Basilica and other D.C. attractions and landmarks.

  If you’re interested in joining scores of other pilgrims from across our 12 counties, you have only a few more weeks to register for the 2017 PFL.  You must register through your home parish.

The cost is $405, and scholarships are available through the Louise Becker Youth Endowment. For more information about the pilgrimage, talk to your parish youth minister or pastor. Details of the pilgrimage may be found online at: http://www.evdio.org/pilgrimage-for-life.

The Message thanks the Diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for this information.