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Feature on Formation: A Pilgrimage for this Jubilee Year

Feature on Formation: A Pilgrimage for this Jubilee Year 1080 1350 Kristen Blacksher

A Pilgrimage for this Jubilee Year

By Tim Williams, Senior Director of Formation & Leadership Development

Looking ahead to our Vincentian Pilgrimage to France this fall, I can’t help but think about the many pilgrimages I embark on throughout the year. They are my favorite part of this job – the time that I spend traveling around the country giving talks and leading retreats and training. Our “worldwide network of friends” is not just a poetic phrase for me, because I never feel like a stranger wherever Vincentians are present. We are not only friends, but old friends, once we get past the mere formality of learning one another’s names.

Each of my trips is a true pilgrimage, not because of the many beautiful churches and retreat centers I get to see, but because my geographic journey is also part of my spiritual journey – a journey in which I seek God’s will by sharing, praying, and growing in holiness together with my fellow Vincentians.

As Pope Benedict XVI once explained, “To go on pilgrimage is not simply to visit a place [but] to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where he has revealed himself, where his grace has shone with particular splendor and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe.

In this Jubilee Year of 2025, all Catholics are called to be Pilgrims of Hope. How perfect for Vincentians who serve in hope!

In September, along with International First Vice President Ralph Middlecamp, I will be leading a group of Vincentians on a special pilgrimage to France, where we will follow in the footsteps of saints and founders, visiting the places where they lived, served, and are buried. Not only will we see beautiful churches – including the recently reopened Notre Dame Cathedral – we will pray together in the very places where Vincent, Louise, Rosalie and Frédéric were inspired by the Holy Spirit to begin the works that we continue today.

Along the way, we will form stronger bonds of friendship with each other and with that great cloud of witnesses whose legacy is our vocation.

There are still spots available for you to join us, but time is running short. I hope that you will join me in Paris in September!

Learn more information about the Vincentian Heritage Pilgrimage to France trip.

Save the Dates! Vincentian Heritage Pilgrimage 2025

Save the Dates! Vincentian Heritage Pilgrimage 2025 293 168 admin

Paris: September 5-13, 2025

Join fellow Vincentians to walk the streets of Paris, visiting the churches of St Vincent, St Louise, Bl. Rosalie, and Bl. Frédéric. We’ll visit the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal, Frédéric’s beloved Sorbonne, the Rue Mouffetard, where Rosalie served the poor for 54 years, Sacré-Coeur, the tombs of all four of these Vincentian founders, and much more.

Lyon & Chatillon: September 13-15, 2025 (Optional Add-on)

In this optional add-on, we will visit the place where the Vincentian Family was born with the founding of the first Confraternity of Charity in 1617, and we will take a walking tour of Lyon, the city of Frédéric’s childhood.

 Your guides will be:

Ralph Middlecamp, 1st Vice President, International Council General

Tim Williams, Sr. Director, Formation & Leadership Development

 Sign Up to Receive More Details:

Send email to Tim Williams: twilliams@svdpusa.org

 

 

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