BISHOP Michael McKenna rolled into Orange as part of a week-long 1200km pilgrimage of the Catholic Diocese of Bathurst on Friday.
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Bishop McKenna’s pilgrimage was part of the 150th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the diocese.
“I’ve gone around with a group of pilgrims, some have come part of the way, some have gone all the way,” he said.
“We’ve stopped at every parish to pray with the congregation and community.”
About 20 people from Bathurst, Cowra, Canowindra and Oberon took part in the pilgrimage from Monday, September 28 to yesterday, which covered all 17 parishes in the diocese.
“This time there was no one from Orange but we were welcomed by the Orange people,” Bishop McKenna said.
They spent about two hours in Orange where they presented a stone, with a commemorative plaque, from the Bathurst Cathedral of St Michael and St John, which is being restored.
Each parish received a stone and plaque to put on permanent display to mark the pilgrimage.
After praying and having lunch in Orange, the pilgrimage went on to Perthville and finished at the Bathurst cathedral.
The sesquicentennial celebrations started in June this year to coincide with the date the diocese was established and will continue until October 2016 to mark the date when the first Bishop and Mercy Sisters arrived.
Bishop McKenna said the sesquicentenary was “a time of thanking God for his blessings, of acknowledging our failures to fully respond, of renewing our resolve to walk together to our only future, the Kingdom of God.
“I hope that this pilgrimage will build the bonds of unity we share, not as a mere confederation of parishes, but as a local church with a common mission. I hope that it will reawaken our willingness to become the living Gospel for everyone to share.”
tanya.marschke@fairfaxmedia.com.au