Equestrian Order plans pilgrimage for 2024

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Ray and Rolinda Dardano

The mid-year meeting of the Salt Lake Area of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem was held on March 18. Members attended Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, with Bishop Oscar A. Solis presiding. They then had brunch and a business meeting, followed by a reflection by Fr. Gabriel Mosher, O.P., pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center; he and the bishop both also are members of the Order.

Fr. Gabriel’s reflection centered on the life and lessons of Blessed Bartolo Longo, a 19th-century member of the order who struggled with his spirituality, then had a conversion. Blessed Bartolo Longo was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980, and Pope Francis declared this year a Jubilee year of Blessed Bartolo Longo.

During the meeting, it was announced that a Holy Land pilgrimage is being planned for October 2024.  Members and candidates of the Order will be invited to make the pilgrimage, but there may be room for others who are interested in going. Several members who had already been on pilgrimage agreed that it is life-changing to be able to visit the locations mentioned in the Gospels and to pray and experience where Jesus lived, died and was resurrected.  

2024 will be an active year for the Salt Lake EOHSJ members as the annual meeting for the entire Western USA Lieutenancy will be held in October of that year in Salt Lake City, just prior to the planned pilgrimage. More than 600 members from the Western USA Lieutenancy from several western states are expected to attend, with the cathedral serving as the center of the spiritual activities being planned for the meeting. It is expected that several potential candidates from the Salt Lake Area will be invested at the 2024 annual meeting.

“Investiture into the Order is always a very special spiritual experience, but being Invested in your own cathedral, where your friends and family have the ability to attend, is even more special,” Salt Lake Area Co-councillor Ray Dardano said.

 The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem is a papal order whose mission is supporting the Catholic Church and Christian life in the Holy Land. To learn more about the order or to get on the mailing list for the pilgrimage, contact the Salt Lake Area co-councillors at sl_councillor@eohsjwesternusa.org.

Ray and Rolinda Dardano are Salt Lake Area Co-Councillors of the Salt Lake Area of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.