Lenten campaign 2026
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In 22 years, over 240,000 people have received the message of Lourdes by participating in a powerful virtual pilgrimage experience, the only one of its kind.
When Marlene Watkins founded the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitality North American Volunteers in 2002, her desire was to fill a need for more English-speaking volunteers to assist the thousands of sick and terminally ill pilgrims who make the trek to Our Lady’s Grotto and healing waters at the apparition site in Lourdes, France.
Simultaneously, the need for the message and blessings of Lourdes to be shared for those who cannot travel in person was made known to her. Watkins got to work even though there wasn’t initial support for the concept.
A mini-retreat
Called a “holy encounter with God under the watchful care of Our Lady of Lourdes,” the Lourdes Virtual Pilgrimage Experience re-creates a pilgrimage to Lourdes for those who can't make it to Europe.
The gathering, usually in parishes, is more like a mini-retreat than a presentation as it includes a guided prayerful "visit" to the Grotto, the experience of Lourdes water, a Rosary procession, and Eucharistic blessing.
In an interview with Aleteia, Pamela Barton, Virtual Pilgrimage Coordinator for the organization, shared: That’s how Our Lady works; she connects people “together like beads on the rosary.”
While usually hosted by parishes, the experience can be adapted for schools, Catholic conferences, prisons, and nursing homes. Barton, along with many other volunteer guides, make this possible.
The one-of-a-kind virtual pilgrimage has been to 26 countries across every continent. As of this year, the Lourdes Volunteers will have reached all 50 states and 13 Native American Nations in the U.S.
Under COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, a version was produced and shared with millions of pilgrims through three world-wide broadcasts on EWTN.
Schools, too
Barton shared that in fact, one of her favorite settings for the Virtual Pilgrimage is in schools.
“In as little as 20 minutes, what these children receive,” she said, “is to hear that there’s a little girl who became a saint; and that living a holy life is for all of us.”
In parishes, many adults recall seeing the movie Song of Bernadette as children, proof for Barton of the lasting impression Our Lady can make. Even if they have strayed from faith at some point during life, something deep has been left like cinders that can be rekindled, she said.
“This is the message of Lourdes,” Barton said: “That transformation is possible with God’s grace … When you look at Bernadette — she was the most looked down upon person in the town. Poor, sickly, a child and an outcast — and now, she’s a saint!”
What the world sees is not what God sees
Barton shared how she tells school children about the “literal pigsty” that was the start of what is now something beautiful. The grotto was the “bad corner” in Lourdes, she said. It was where you’d go “if you were looking for trouble.” She asks the children how such an awful place could be somewhere so beautiful now.
The answer of one little boy has stuck with her, “God remade it!” Barton reflected on how often that can be the case in our own lives. We look and think, what a dumpster fire! But God says, “Relax. I can remake it.”
“Through his grace,” she reiterated. “The message of Lourdes is that God loves us and saves us.”
In prisons
He can do this anywhere, Barton said, and commented on the “lovely thing” it is to bring the Lourdes experience into prisons — where it is especially powerful — and even to the bedside of sick and dying persons — where it is especially appreciated.
“Coming to the homebound, one on one,” as a parallel to the many sick and terminally pilgrims who make the physical trip to Lourdes, said Barton, is like the Visitation where Mary is coming to them.
For prisoners, the story of how Bernadette’s family was destitute, homeless, and basically hopeless is very impactful. Barton shared the affinity they feel with the saint’s family, hearing that they actually moved into an abandoned jail cell, a place deemed unfit even for prisoners. This was where Bernadette was living before she had the first apparition.
“From that humble place, living in a one-room, abandoned jail cell; it is from that place that she is called to the grotto to meet Our Lady.”
Prisoners, Barton said, immediately relate to that and realize that if Our Lady could choose Bernadette, she can come to them in a special way too.
The grace of approval for a plenary indulgence to be granted for virtual pilgrims (with the regular conditions being met) was given to the Lourdes Virtual Pilgrimage Experience on their 10th anniversary. They renew that approval every severn years and see it as a great gift to share that grace with pilgrims, many of whom don’t know what a plenary indulgence is.
A story as only God can write
The virtual pilgrimage follows the storyline of Bernadette, the apparitions, and Mary’s message; this “beautiful story — a story as only God can write, but we’re blessed to tell,” Barton said. The dynamic becomes something like jumping back and forth in time from past to present letting the story unfold and envelop these “pilgrims in the pews.”
Pilgrims are invited to come forward and touch pieces of the grotto rock. With music similar to what is heard in Lourdes, France, they are later invited to experience the Lourdes water. Pilgrims are invited to bring forward personal prayer intentions; there’s a Rosary procession with candles, and a Eucharistic blessing (if a priest or deacon is available); sometimes the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is also offered. The experience is tailored to each location and community’s needs.
As “Missionaries of hope and healing,” the volunteers have the “intent and guiding principle to give pilgrims the fullest expression of a Lourdes experience … and the community we bring it to is a big part of that," Barton said. "There are team members from the organization who work with local volunteers to feel Our Lady’s welcome and her open arms when they arrive to the virtual pilgrimage."
Summarizing the experience, Barton framed it as “penance, prayer, and procession."
“Penance and prayer are obvious, but procession means that we accompany one another. We walk with one another.”
It’s a tangible connection to what Our Lady asked for at Lourdes when she told Bernadette to ask the priest to have the people come to the grotto in procession.
“She’s gathering us all together, and that’s a beautiful thing about Lourdes — seeing the universal Church … all the languages and cultures. It’s like a gathering of our family around Our Lady, around our Mother.”
With so many people going away from God, going away from the Church, Barton said, “It’s Our Lady telling us that prayer can turn them around and that we can use our own penances to help ourselves and those we pray for.”
For anyone interested in bringing the experience to their parish or other setting, visit here.
For a schedule of currently planned virtual pilgrimages, click here.
