Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church
Pittsburg, KS
On Monday, July 4, the relics arrived at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Pittsburg, Kansas, and were welcomed with an opening Mass at 8 a.m. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. the relics were on display for the parish to venerate, along with a virtual tour of Lourdes, France and general information at 9:30 a.m. Participants were also able to bless themselves with water from Lourdes, France.
On Tuesday, July 5, Bishop Rice from the Diocese of Springfield - Cape Girardeau traveled with pilgrims from his diocese to celebrate Mass at 7 a.m. At 8:30 p.m., a candlelight procession with the relics took place. "The candlelight procession was a way of sharing our love for Mary and our faith with the community," said Father Jerome Spexarth, Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes. "Many parishioners and visitors wrote their intentions that will be sent to Lourdes, France."
On Wednesday, people venerated the relics from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Fr. Jerome Spexarth said the church had hundreds of people visiting the relics over the two days. People came from Wichita, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and all over Kansas.
"It was a spiritually uplifting experience," Spexarth said. "We were blown away by the experience. It was awesome to meet people from all over and share our faith together."