The first transatlantic pilgrimage flight to Knock shrine will touch down in Co Mayo tomorrow.
The inaugural Aer Lingus flight from JFK to Ireland West Airport Knock will carry 178 pilgrims, including the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
Cardinal Dolan will officially launch the 2015 National Novena in Knock on August 14th, which is expected to attract up to 150,000 people over nine days.
Ireland West Airport Knock chairman Joe Kennedy said the arrival of the pilgrims from New York marked the return of transatlantic flights to the west of Ireland after an absence of eight years.
“We hope this is an important stepping stone in securing regular transatlantic services for the region into the future and we look forward to welcoming our US visitors to the west of Ireland in 2015,” he said.
The airport caters for about 700,000 passengers annually and it is worth in the region of €130 million to the local economy.
Cardinal Dolan said: “It will be an honour for me to travel to the west of Ireland and open Ireland’s National Public Novena on August 14th, with Mass in the Basilica of Our Lady, Queen of Ireland, in Knock.
Attraction of novena
“Ireland’s annual nine-day national novena, honouring Our Lady, attracts thousands of pilgrims to this beautiful land and to the pilgrimage town of Knock every August, the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
Following their arrival in Knock airport, the pilgrimage party will travel to Knock shrine, where Mass will be celebrated in the newly refurbished basilica.
The occasion will be broadcast live on RTÉ 1 television.
The transatlantic pilgrimage flight from New York will be a culmination of two years of planning as part of Knock shrine’s “Witness of Hope” initiative, aimed at promoting the shrine at home and abroad.
Fr Richard Gibbons, parish priest and rector of Knock shrine, said everyone in Knock was looking forward to the arrival of the New York pilgrims.
“This is a very important and historic step for the promotion of Knock, Ireland’s national Marian shrine, at home and abroad. It is hugely significant that the Archdiocese of New York, led by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, is deepening its relationship with Knock shrine and highlighting the spiritual heritage of Irish Americans, especially in New York. Knock shrine holds a special place in the hearts of our diaspora and, in the Catholic tradition, pilgrimage plays a significant role in renewing people’s faith and we are delighted to facilitate that.
"It is also important to note that Ireland West Airport Knock was built specifically to welcome pilgrims to Knock shrine as well as to develop the economic life of the west. Monsignor James Horan, I'm sure, would be very proud."
Series of talks
Over the course of the novena, there will be a number of events and speakers, including the Archbishop of Armagh, Most Rev
Eamon Martin
and
Joan Freeman
, the founder of Pieta House.
Peter Sutherland, the United Nations special representative for international migration, will also talk on the theme of Our Responsibilities towards the Human Family.
The pilgrimage party will be based in Westport and their Irish itinerary also includes visits to the Cliffs of Moher, Connemara, Killarney, the Ring of Kerry and Dublin.