New Yorkers Share Pilgrimage Reflections

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On the bus ride home from the Archdiocesan Pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the National Shrine of St. John Paul II in Washington, D.C., two pilgrims from St. Monica’s parish in Manhattan shared their thoughts with Catholic New York.

Diana Sboril, who retired earlier this year after a 44-year career as a social worker with Catholic Home Bureau and Catholic Guardian Services, was making her first pilgrimage to the D.C. shrines.

“The basilica itself is a beautiful blending of traditional and modern,” she said. “It comes together so beautifully.”

Visiting the St. John Paul II Shrine was an opportunity to again encounter the newly canonized saint whom she had seen in person when he visited New York. Her own Slavic background had given her a special appreciation for the Polish pope.

She said she found the story woven together by the photos, videos, text and personal artifacts in the shrine exhibit “very impressive.”

One unexpected encounter at the John Paul Shrine did leave left her a bit startled and amazed. On the shrine’s entrance path, she spotted a full grown buck sporting antlers, a surprising sight to say the least in a city environment. Ms. Sboril gave the deer some distance and he soon loped away.

Her neighbor, Jimmy Mulzet, had a special encounter of his own at the basilica, where Cardinal Dolan called him to lead a decade of the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary beginning in the Crypt Church.

This was not the first pilgrimage on which Mulzet had accompanied Cardinal Dolan. The first one was in 2012 when the cardinal led a group from the archdiocese to Ireland for the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.

“He’s been a great friend to me,” said Mulzet, who noted that he was “happy and proud” to lead the Rosary. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a baby, Mulzet credits his strong faith in God as key to his successful life.

At least once before, Mulzet had been the focus of attention at a Catholic gathering, that one considerably larger than the 200-person pilgrimage to D.C Nov. 15. In 1993, he was selected by the archdiocese to speak about his Catholic faith before 250,000 at World Youth Day at Cherokee State Park in Denver, a gathering led by Pope John Paul II.

When he visited the new saint’s shrine, he said, “It made me feel like I was seeing him all over again.”
-John Woods