Canadian Shrines Pilgrimage with Fr. Paul Vu Nguyen, CSsR

Our pilgrimage begins as we depart from Houston T.X. for Buffalo N.Y.  After our tour escort greets us at baggage claim we head via motor coach to our first stop, Our Lady of Victory National Shrine & Basilica where we join for our commencement Mass followed by dinner.  We’ll enjoy an evening of leisure and check into our hotel.

Overnight Niagra Falls

Following breakfast we celebrate Mass at Our Lady of Fatima Shrine in Youngstown, N.Y.  This shrine features an awe-inspiring Dome Basilica and a contour of the Northern Hemisphere.  We climb to the top of the dome to overlook the Shrine grounds and picturesque countryside.  We visit the ‘Rosary Pool’ and the ‘Avenue of the Saints’ featuring over one hundred life-size marble statues of saints.  After a light lunch we proceed to view one of North America’s most well-known and impressive wonders, Niagara Falls.  A place of visual immensity, 3,160 tons of water flow over Niagara Falls each second. 

Overnight Niagra Falls

This morning, after breakfast we celebrate mass at Our Lady of Peace Shrine and depart soon after for Toronto, a metropolis of skyscrapers and the fifth largest city in North America.  We enjoy a sightseeing tour followed by a visit at St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica.  After, we journey north to the Nation’s capital, Ottawa.  This gorgeous city is set along the banks of the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Overnight Ottawa

After breakfast we will visit the Cathedral Basilica Notre-Dame d’Ottawa (built in 1832), the Parliament Buildings and Embassy Row.  There is free time for lunch at the wonderful ByWard Market, packed full of outdoor vendors selling every manor of locally produced food and craft.  After visiting the city we’ll make a visit to Our Lady of Lavang Parish to visit and celebrate mass.  Following mass, we will depart for Montreal.  This evening enjoy dinner on your own in one of the dozens of restaurants and cafes.

Overnight Montreal

This morning we depart for Kanawaukee, Ontario, Canada and visit the burial place of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. Following lunch, we travel to Montréal for a guided tour of Notre Dame Basilica, St. Joseph’s Oratory, and St. Andre Bessette’s Shrine. St. Andre is known for his great devotion to St. Joseph which led him to request that a chapel be built in his honor. This basilica is known as a place of miraculous healings and is visited by pilgrims from all over the world. Mass at the Basilica. Next, we continue towards Québec City, the cradle of French culture in North America.

Overnight Québec City

We enjoy breakfast and then a tour of Old Québec City and where we learn more about the role of our Catholic faith in the history of Québec.  We’ll also visit the Basilica Cathedral Notre-Dame de Québec, home to the only Holy Door in North America. We’ll also visit the crypt, the François de Laval Center, the Ursuline Monastery and the Marie de l’Incarnation Center, the Augustine Monastery and the Catherine de Saint-Augustine Center. We’ll have some leisure time to visit Rue du Petit-Champlain.  Next, we’ll gather for dinner in charming Québec.

Overnight Québec City

Following breakfast, we’re off to visit Montmorency Falls Park, where waterfalls are 272 feet high (100 feet higher than Niagara Falls), where we’ll admire the views.  We then proceed to the Albert Gilles Copper Museum of Art, where we’ll learn about the art and historical prevalence of embossing copper.  Following our visit at the museum, we proceed to the Basilica of Sainte-Anne de-Beaupré which welcomes over a million visitors a year.  We break for lunch and then learn about the fascinating history of the shrine through its mosaics, stained-glass windows, stone and wood sculptures, as well as its numerous chapels.  We’ll also visit the St. Anne Museum with free time to explore the grounds.  Following Mass, we return to Old Québec City for our farewell dinner.

Overnight Québec City

With a renewed sense of pilgrimage and an invigorated love of our Catholic faith, we will board our plane for our return flight home.