About two years ago, Brazilian astronomer Duilia de Mello, who is vice provost and a professor of physics at the Catholic University of America, contacted me to say that she was interested in bringing an image of Our Lady of Aparecida to the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The basilica has about 100 different chapels and images of the Blessed Mother representing devotions of the various countries around the world, but there was no statue of Our Lady of Aparecida, the patroness of Brazil.

Around that time, I had just given a retreat to the Brazilian bishops' conference, and the president of the conference gave me a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Aparecida, which I had at the cathedral rectory. So, I told her, "If you can get the permission, I have the statue for you." I'm on the Board of Directors, so I was happy to sponsor her proposal.

Then, Bishop Edgar da Cunha became involved in helping with the fundraising for the cost of the altar. He also came up with the idea of inviting Brazilians from throughout the United States to make a pilgrimage to Washington for the enthronement of the new statue.

Well, last weekend, that plan came to fruition.

So, last Friday, I went to Washington, where there was a dinner at CUA with Bishop da Cunha and other organizers of the pilgrimage, as well as several bishops from Brazil who came for the occasion, including Archbishop Luiz Fernando Lisboa, who was with us at the Pastoral Center for the Mass with Father Hehir last week.

The dinner was right next to CUA's copy of the monument "Angels Unawares" that the Holy Father has placed in St. Peter's Square. As I have previously mentioned, they actually have the statue in the middle of a fountain. So, it's a boat that's actually in the water.



Mass and enthronement

Saturday morning, the pilgrims gathered at Sacred Heart, where I usually hold the Mass for the Bostonians attending the March for Life. Then, over 1,000 people walked in procession to the basilica with the image. (For those who are unfamiliar with Washington D.C., it's about an hour-and-half walk away.) Then they had activities all day long.

The Mass and enthronement itself was at 2 p.m., and it was beyond our wildest dreams. It was very much like the Masses we hold the night before the March for Life; it was standing room only.

There is a small Brazilian community in Washington, but there were over 6,000 people in the basilica for the Mass. Everyone was just shocked. And, of course, we had many Brazilians from the Archdiocese of Boston with us, including Bishop Cristiano Barbosa. We were also pleased that the nuncio also came to concelebrate with us.

The pilgrimage committee sold about 3,500 t-shirts with images of Our Lady of Aparecida. So, all day, around the Catholic University campus and environs, you saw people wearing these blue t-shirts!

The statue is located in the large vestibule off the main entrance, right next to the image of Our Lady of Fatima. Everyone was joking that they could speak Portuguese to each other!

So, it was a great event, and we were so happy it was live-streamed all over Brazil and the United States.