Mexican Catholic Apostolate holds Our Lady of Guadalupe fest and processions throughout diocese

December 11, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Share this:

PROSPECT HEIGHTS & BOROUGHWIDE — MORE THAN 3,000 CATHOLICS OF MEXICAN and Hispanic heritage are expected to converge at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph (856 Pacific St.) for the Diocese of Brooklyn’s annual Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Thursday, Dec. 12. The Diocese is offering two Spanish-language Masses: 9:30 a.m. for members of Queens parishes; and 1:30 p.m. Mass for Brooklyn parishes, the latter at which Diocesan Bishop Robert J. Brennan will be the homilist. At the conclusion of each Mass, Bishop Brennan will bless and light the torches on the steps of the Co-Cathedral. Representatives from each parish will then depart with the lit torch on a pilgrimage to their respective parishes, representing more than 50 Catholic churches throughout Brooklyn and Queens. The procession to Queens begins at 10:30 a.m. with the torch lighting. The Brooklyn procession begins at 2:30 p.m. The group of pilgrims represents, in its vast majority, the Mexican Catholic population of Brooklyn and Queens, with an estimated 175,000 Mexicans living in these two parts of the diocese. Father Baltazar Sanchez Alonzo, Director of the Mexican Apostolate, organized this year’s feast.

The Mexican apostolate first hosted the torch pilgrimage titled “Recibiendo la Luz de Cristo” (Receiving the Light of Christ) in 2013, proceeding from St. James Cathedral-Basilica in Downtown Brooklyn. The following year, with renovations complete at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph (dedicated in May 2014), the festival was moved there.

✰✰✰