Church Members Make Pilgrimage to Fatima
By Cynthia Cheng
Cars driving down Highway 101 often slow down near the Great America exit as drivers and passengers try to catch a glimpse of the Madonna at Our Lady of Peace Church and Shrine. The 32-foot stainless steel statue of Jesus’ mother, the Virgin Mary, stands in the midst of technology giants like Yahoo, Sun Microsystems, and Intel, and near local sites such as the Great America theme park and Mission College.
Beginning in May and continuing on through October on the 13th of each month, the Virgin Mary is celebrated in a ritual called “A Pilgrimage to Fatima.” This pilgrimage consists of church members filing out from the chapel after a mass and walking in a procession to the shrine where the statue stands.
The significance of this practice has its roots in the Coca da Iria fields near Fatima, Portugal back in 1917.
“In Fatima, Portugal, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared as an apparition to three children- two girls and one boy,” says Maryan Rosario of Sunnyvale, a youth minister at the church. “She appeared to the children every 13th of the month from May to October.”
Derrick Oliver of San Jose, an alter boy and peer advisor, discussed the Virgin Mary’s message to the children.
“This was happening right before the end of World War I. Mother Mary wanted the kids to pray for peace, to pray for the conversion of sinners,” says Oliver. “She said if the world didn’t convert themselves from their ways, there’d be a war much worse, and there was- World War II.”
On the evening of Wed. June 13, members of Our Lady of Peace Church and Shrine met for a mass comprised of a spiritual message from the Fr. Walter Mallo, worship in praise, readings from the Bible’s Old and New Testament, an offering and a communion.
“Whatever we bring to [the Virgin Mary], we are reminded of our connection to Jesus,” says Mallo during his sermon.
After the mass, the congregation got up and trickled outside where they picked up candles, lit them, and marched over to the shrine of Our Lady of Peace while chanting prayers. At the shrine, some people laid flowers at the foot of the statue and knelt in prayer before rejoining the group heading back to the church.
“This ceremony is about renewing my spiritual life. Even if you are Catholic or not, Mary can help you if you believe,” says Malia Fatai, who made a trip down from Oakland to Santa Clara to attend this pilgrimage event.
Fatai expresses her affection and gratitude towards the Virgin Mary.
“I was married to my husband for fifteen years, and there was no baby even though we were trying,” says Fatai. “Then I came to this church two times and bowed at Mary’s feet and asked for a child. Soon after that, I became pregnant. It was a miracle. I was 40 years old when I had my baby. My daughter’s name is Saane. She’s nine months old. This is the first time I brought my baby to see Mary. ”
