LIVE pilgrimage meeting tomorrow!
Join me, Daniel, and Fr. Harrison Ayre to learn about trip to Belgium and Germany
The plans are all in place for a pilgrimage in 2024 to Belgium and Germany and your three fearless leaders will be putting together a live informational meeting just for you, tomorrow night (December 3rd) at 9pm Eastern.
Fr. Harrison Ayre, one of our wonderful spiritual leaders of our trip last year to Scotland, had an idea that had been brewing (pun intended) in his mind for a few years: a pilgrimage of Belgian abbeys and beer!
We talked to the tour company we planned the Scotland trip with, Select International, and they were willing to help us create our dream itinerary for this new adventure. It’s happening June 29th-July 10th, 2024.
The trip is already half full, but we have some spots still available for you.
From Fr. Harrison:
We may not associate beer and pilgrimage in the same sentence, but this adventure truly is a pilgrimage. Belgian Trappist Monks have been making unique beers for centuries and are world famous for their craft. In this pilgrimage, we encounter the God who has revealed himself in the prayerful life of these monks and the fruit of their work. Indeed, these monks reveal God to us through their unique beers. In visiting some of these monasteries, in tasting some of these beers, in seeing the beauty and uniqueness of Flemish and Belgian architecture and culture, and in our friendship with one another, we will find the God who comes to meet us and reveals Himself through the beauty of created things. This trip will be one of conviviality, which means sharing life, joy, and celebration over the things that impart meaning and friendship with one another. The world famous and award winning beers of these Trappist monks will be a means to share this life together, where the fruit of their work and prayer will help us grow closer in friendship and closer to Christ. We will also, of course, visit churches, pray together, see world famous art and architecture, and so much more. This pilgrimage is meant to be Catholic in every sense of the word!
You can click here to see the full itinerary, but here’s a few highlights:
Leuven: St. Anthony’s Chapel (crypt of St. Damien Molokai)
Brussels: Grand Place, St. Michael’s Cathedral, Cantillon Brewery
Westmalle: Abbey of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Cafe Trappisten
Ghent: St. Bavo Cathedral (Ghent altarpiece), St. Nicholas Church
Flanders Field American Cemetery, Abbey of St. Sixtus (and brewery), De Struise Brouwers
Bruges: Church of Our Lady, Basilica of the Holy Blood, De Halve Mann Brewery
Chimay: Abbey of Our Lady of Scourmont, Chimay Brewery Auberge de Poteaupre
Orval: Abbey of Our Lady
Bastogne: Achel Brewery, St. Benedictus Abbey
Aachen, Germany: Aachen Cathedral
Cologne: Cologne Cathedral (Kolner Dom), Church of St. Andrew (tomb of St. Albertus Magnus)
This will be my fourth pilgrimage organized by Select International. Each of them have been incredible. They coordinate the hotels, brewery tours, private bus and driver, Belgian guide, daily Mass for our pilgrims, and meals and they do an amazing job. That way we can just relax and enjoy the trip—all the details are in place.
If this sounds like the kind of trip you’d be interested in, join us for the live meeting! This is the link you’ll need to access the Google meet.
We are keeping the trip small so that it will be intimate and to avoid complications of needing two buses or having too large a group for brewery tours, etc. And the trip is already 1/2 full.
Got questions? I’m happy to answer them. Let’s go to Belgium! And leave a comment here if you’re planning to join us for the live chat tomorrow night.
-Haley