The Holy Family will come alive in a new and experiential way with the September 2027 launch of The Holy Family Pilgrimage Experience. The pilgrimage launches at the Pan American Confraternity Forum (PAC27), a once-in-a-millennium intercontinental forum that kicks off the Road to the 2033 World Forum in Rome.
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The Holy Family Pilgrimage Experience offers a six-day behind-the-scenes look at Canada’s rich Catholic legacy. Included are pilgrimages to basilicas devoted to the Blessed Mother in Ottawa and Quebec City, and the internationally renowned shrines of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré near Quebec City, Our Lady of the Cape in Trois-Rivières, and St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal. All of these historic churches are strewn along the famous St. Lawrence River and Rideau Canal waterways.
The Holy Family Pilgrimage Experience offers a six-day behind-the-scenes look at Canada’s rich Catholic legacy. Included are pilgrimages to basilicas devoted to the Blessed Mother in Ottawa and Quebec City, and the internationally renowned shrines of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré near Quebec City, Our Lady of the Cape in Trois-Rivières, and St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal. All of these historic churches are strewn along the famous St. Lawrence River and Rideau Canal waterways.
The Road to Jubilee33 takes place in honour of the 2033 extraordinary jubilee: the 2000th anniversary of Jesus Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. It aims to bring the world to Jesus through Mary by showing the unity of the Catholic family under Mary’s maternal care and guided by the Holy Family towards Jesus Christ. It kicks off at PAC27, September 2 to 5, 2027, at TD Place Stadium on the banks of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa. PAC27 is expected to attract tens of thousands of participants. TD Place will be transformed into a sacred space mirroring the historic 1947 Marian Congress held on the same site – the crowning act of which, according to the Venerable Pope Pius XII, was the consecration of Canada to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is a first of three such events, with similar ones planned for Labor Day weekend 2030 in the United States, and the final Jubilee event in Rome in 2033.
“We’re living in times that compel us to turn to the Holy Family—and Mary in particular—for guidance on how to remain hopeful during challenging times, stand up for families, and find spiritual strength and happiness,” says Dennis Girard, creator of the pilgrimage and one of the organizers of the Road to Jubilee33. “As we look to the 2000th anniversary of our Lord’s passion, we invite all Catholics to join us in Ottawa for PAC27—one family in faith, bringing people to Jesus through Mary.”
Girard and his wife Angelina are founders of the Marian Devotional Movement, a lay apostolate authorized by the Dominican Order to establish the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary in Marian Shrines based on their model employed at Canada’s National Marian Shrine of Our Lady of the Cape. Located in Trois-Rivières, between Quebec City and Montreal, the shrine is considered the first pilgrimage site in North America outside of Mexico and attracts between 250,000 to 400,000 pilgrims annually. Three of the most commonly recognized Marian pilgrimage sites are Guadalupe, Fatima, and Lourdes. Girard is working to promote Our Lady of the Cape as a site worthy of similar recognition. In 2021, he co-led the launch of a feature-length documentary, Bridge of Roses: The Story of Our Lady of the Cape, which recounts the history of the shrine and the miracles and heroic figures that helped to spread devotion to Our Lady and the Most Holy Rosary.
“In addition to beautiful sceneries, churches, architecture and art, the Holy Family Pilgrimage tells the fascinating story of the spread of Catholicism in North America, which is closely tied to the prodigies that took place at Our Lady of the Cape,” says Girard. “Our Blessed Mother played a critical role in the spread of the faith throughout the Americas, and she’s at work again in a significant way through this new pilgrimage experience and the events leading up to Jubilee33.”
Although some of the stops on the itinerary are common pilgrimage destinations such as Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré and Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral, Girard hopes that Ottawa will also soon become one as devotion to Our Lady of the Cape spreads.
With the support of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization and the Laity, Family and Life, the Road to Jubilee33 team includes Pierre-Olivier Tremblay, bishop of Hearst-Moosonee in Ontario, Umberto Angeloni, founder of the Pan European Confraternity Forum, Carol Bezak, president of The National Association of Shrine and Pilgrimage Apostolate, Dr. Ben Akers of the Augustine Institute, Marilyn Santos, Associate Director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, Fr. Fabio de Souza, Chaplain of the Marian Devotional Movement and Kristin Bird, president of the Eucharistic Rosary Congress, as well as Girard, founder of the Pan American Confraternity Forum.
Organizers are also putting the final touches on an interactive boardgame and digital companion for Jubilee33 called KeySeek. To learn more about the game visit keyseek.org. For more information on the Road to Jubilee33, visit jubilee33.org.
*Holy Family Pilgrimage Experience is organized by Corporate Travel Service, a full-service tour operator and event producer that hosts faith-related experiences and pilgrimages. PAC27 is presented through the unified collaboration of bishops, confraternities, shrines, religious communities, and lay apostolates from across the Americas and beyond — leaders and ministries working together to strengthen faith, foster communion, and advance the Church’s mission on the road to Jubilee33.
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