“Good Earth: Caring for God’s Creation” will be the theme of the 53rd annual Pilgrimage to New Skete here on Saturday, August 10, 2019.
The day will open at 8:30 a.m. with the celebration of Matins in Holy Wisdom Church. The Divine Liturgy will follow at 9:30 a.m. At 11:15 a.m., a tour and presentation on the hundreds of unique icons enshrined in Holy Wisdom and Transfiguration Churches will afford pilgrims a better understanding of the Church’s iconographic tradition.
This year’s guest speaker—Dr. Gayle Woloschak, Professor of Radiation Oncology, Radiology, and Cell and Molecular Biology in the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, and Sessional Professor of Bioethics at Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Yonkers, NY—will deliver a presentation on the pilgrimage theme at 1:30 p.m.
Other afternoon events include a guided hike and an iconography demonstration. Pilgrims are also invited to visit the meditation gardens and gift shops in addition to enjoying a variety of festival foods and the nuns’ legendary cheesecakes, which will be available for purchase throughout the day.
The pilgrimage will close with the celebration of Vigil and a Healing Service at 5:00 p.m.
New Skete — a monastic community of the Orthodox Church in America since 1979 — was established in 1966 by a small group of Byzantine Rite Franciscan monks. In 1969, seven Poor Clare nuns from Indiana, inspired by the vision of contemporary monastic life, settled near the monks and joined New Skete. In 1983, a third community was established when eight dedicated parish members expressed their desire to live in accordance with the monastic way of life and formed the Companions of New Skete.
The event is open to the public at no charge.
Further information is available on the New Skete web site.
