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In the photo above, Pope Benedict XVI meets with the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Land in St. Catherine's Church in Bethlehem when he visited in May, 2009. St. Catherine's Church is adjacent to the Basilica of the Nativity of the Lord and serves as the parish for the Roman Catholics of Bethlehem. (Photo:G. Caffulli/Terrasanta)
“Many memorable experiences of pilgrims to the Holy Land have been possible thanks also to the hospitality and fraternal guidance offered by you, especially by the Franciscan Friars of the Custody. For this service, I wish to assure you of the appreciation and gratitude of the Universal Church and I express the wish that many more pilgrims will visit in the future.” - An excerpt from an address given by Pope Benedict XVI in the Cenacle (Upper Room) during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in May, 2009.
FRANCISCAN PILGRIMAGES
PILGRIMAGE TO LOURDES
Please call 1-877-276-7279 for more information.
February 9-17, 2011 
PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND
February 22 - March 3, 2011
PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND
March 20-29, 2011
PILGRIMAGE TO EGYPT AND THE HOLY LAND
April 1-14, 2011
PILGRIMAGE TO ITALY
May 16-26, 2011
Click here for upcoming pilgrimages 2011
Photo Gallery
 Pope Benedict’s Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage with Fr. David 2009
Pilgrimage with Fr. David (April 2007)
Holy Land Greece Turkey
(2007-2008)
Fr. David Wathen, O.F.M. celebrating Mass with pilgrims near the Sea of Galilee
Welcome to the land of Jesus! In the name of the Franciscan Friars who staff the major shrines, I invite you to come on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Read a letter from Fr. Pizzaballa (Fr. Custos), the Franciscan Friar with overall responsibility for the care of the Christian shrines in the Holy Land.
Read a letter from His Beatitude Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, inviting you to the Holy Land.
My name is Fr. David Wathen. I am a priest-leader and guide for Holy Land pilgrimages. I lived there for more than eight years, serving as a spiritual assistant to pilgrims for most of that time. My home base is now the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, where I am the director of the Pilgrimage Office. But I still spend as much as eight months a year in the Holy Land. I stay in contact by email.
 Our Pilgrimage Office offers scheduled pilgrimages (itineraries can be seen to the right of this message) to the Holy Land, as well as to other ‘lands of the Bible,” such as Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan. These scheduled pilgrimages are open to the general public. While our scheduled pilgrimages are Catholic in nature we also welcome non-Catholics to join us. For most of our pilgrimages I serve as both priest-leader and guide.
We are also prepared to help you plan your own pilgrimage. Group size does not matter. Whether it’s a small group of friends, a family or a parish pilgrimage we can assist you. And you may be interested in knowing that when you come with us you are helping to support our ministry in the Holy Land. We Franciscans have been present in the Holy Land for more than 700 years with our principal ministry being that of providing assistance for pilgrims.
We’ve been organizing pilgrimages for a long time. Here’s an excerpt from one of our publications written nearly seventy years ago: “From earliest times Christians have yearned to visit the Sacred Shrines of the Holy Land - to see the place where Christ was born, where He lived and preached, suffered and died.” Although this was written in the 1939 Crusader’s Almanac, the newsletter of the Franciscan Monastery, it remains true today. Today pilgrims don’t undergo a sea voyage and the trip doesn’t take months, as it did in 1889 when the first pilgrimage sponsored by the Commissariat of the Holy Land (affiliated with the Franciscan Monastery) left its berth in New York with two bishops and 37 priests among the 101 pilgrims.
A pilgrimage to the Holy Land provides a unique opportunity for you to deepen your faith and love of our Divine Savior by visiting and praying at the sites made sacred by His life and ministry. As organizers of such pilgrimages for more than 100 years the Franciscan Monastery Pilgrimage Office is in a privileged position to assist pilgrims who want to make this journey of faith.
We invite you to join us as we recall the history of our salvation by visiting the sites made sacred by God’s Revelation.
Fr. David Wathen, O.F.M.
Director of the Franciscan Monastery Pilgrimage Office
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