Welcome from Mgr Bill Saunders
(Pilgrimage Director)

The Catholic Association has run pilgrimages to Lourdes for over a hundred years, and as Pilgrimage Director I now share that responsibility and privilege with others. Lourdes is a town in the French region of Bigorre, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, where in 1858 the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, appeared eighteen times to a simple teenage girl, Bernadette Soubirous, in order to draw people into a deeper relationship with her son Jesus. Nearly 150 years later, the Lourdes shrine attracts over six million visitors a year, which includes our pilgrimage of approximately a thousand people. We spend a week in Lourdes every August. Whether we are 'sick pilgrims' or helpers, young or old, clergy or laity, we are all in need of spiritual renewal, and our journey to Lourdes helps our pilgrims to refocus in their life's journey to God. In this section of the Catholic Association website you will find further information about why we go to Lourdes, how our pilgrimage is organised, what events typically take place on pilgrimage, some of our policy documents, as well as materials from our archives and photo galleries from recent years. We hope that these resources may help you in the future, whether you come on pilgrimage with the Catholic Association or whether you make a private journey to Our Lady's shrine.