May for Our Mother
Join fellow ND Clubs around the world in making pilgrimages for Mary in your local community to pray that Notre Dame, Our Mother, intercede for ND's graduating class of 2022, the newest members of the Notre Dame Alumni Association!
In the month dedicated to honoring Mary, Our Mother, Modern Catholic Pilgrim is excited to partner with the Notre Dame Alumni Association to offer Notre Dame Alumni Clubs around the world all the resources they need to host pilgrimages in their local communities to honor Our Mother and to pray for the newest batch of ND grads who join the alumni ranks the weekend of May 14th and 15th. No other university in the world offers such an opportunity, another demonstration of the gift that Notre Dame is to all of us.
Modern Catholic Pilgrim was founded by Will Peterson and David Cable who both graduated from Notre Dame in 2014, then received their M.Ed.'s in 2016 through ND's ACE Teaching Fellows Program. They could not be more excited to bring together their love of pilgrimage and Notre Dame with this "May for Our Mother" project.
Dan Allen, Associate Director of Spirituality and Service for the Notre Dame Alumni Association, and Will Peterson took some time together virtually to answer any FAQ's that clubs may have. Click the button below to give it a watch, and of course, fill out the interest / sign-up form to get the ball rolling on hosting your own May for Our Mother pilgrimage!
"I came here as a young man and founded a university which I named after the Mother of God. Now she had to burn it to the ground to show me I dreamed too small a dream. Tomorrow we will build it bigger and, when it is built, we will put a gold dome on top with a golden statue of the Mother of God so that everyone who comes this way will know to whom we owe whatever great future this place has."
- Fr. Edward Sorin, CSC, Founder of the University of Notre Dame
What is a pilgrimage?
It is an opportunity to take part in one of the Catholic Church's oldest prayer traditions, walked pilgrimage, without having to take weeks or months to travel great lengths to become a pilgrim. Instead, using MCP's resources and joining the wider Notre Dame community, people became pilgrims wherever they are.
How does my local ND Club make a pilgrimage for Mary?
Many of us have never made a pilgrimage and hearing the word can conjure up images of medieval knights, faraway places, and a need for a lot of theological knowledge. In reality, a pilgrimage is one of the simplest and most accessible forms of prayer the Catholic faith has to offer.
You need to answer two questions: Where are you going? What intentions do you have for the journey?
For the first question, if you choose a specific place to walk to in order to lift prayers and intentions to Mary, then you are a pilgrim, and it doesn't matter if you're in Rome, Italy or Rome, Indiana, or anywhere else.
For the second question, we are asking the ND Clubs to have the specific intention that Mary, the Mother of God Fr. Sorin credits with the University's bright future, intercede in the lives of our newest Notre Dame alums.
We at MCP will supply you with all the resources you could need to make your pilgrimage.
Resources for ND Club:
We will continue to add resources here as May approaches.
The May for Our Mother Pilgrims' Prayer
by Mr. David Murray, CSC, '13, M.Ed. '15
Mary, Notre Dame, Our Mother,
You protected and guided the Holy Cross religious
who traveled to America to found our beloved university,
whose bright future they placed into your loving care.
You have stood on your golden dome,
welcoming, protecting, guiding, and praying for
all who have walked under your loving gaze.
We ask that you continue to be with our graduates.
Intercede in their lives as they embark on their new journeys.
Help them to stay close to one another and to your Son
as they make God known, loved, and served.
Mary, you know the way of the pilgrim.
You journeyed with your child Jesus through the desert to Egypt.
You brought him to the Temple in Jerusalem.
You walked with him as he carried his Cross.
Journey with us today on our pilgrimage.
Bring us closer to you and to your Son.
Walk with us and carry our prayers to the Father, as we pray,
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners
now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Notre Dame, Our Mother, pray for us.
Pictures of Mary submitted by pilgrims