A replica of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage was enthroned at a parish in the US in an effort to promote the devotion and the Antipolo Cathedral as an international shrine.
The enthronement was held during Mass at the Church of the Assumption in Connecticut’s Westport community on Saturday, Nov. 12.
The liturgical celebration was presided over by Fr. Reynante Tolentino, Rector of the Antipolo International Shrine. Among the concelebrants was Fr. Cyrus Bartolome, pastor of Assumption Parish and Bridgeport diocese’s Episcopal Vicar for Filipino Catholics.
Tolentino said the initiative seeks to have replica images of Our Lady enthroned in different places across the world, especially in areas where there is a large Filipino community.
In October 2021, a replica of Antipolo’s patroness was enshrined at the Basilica di Santo Stefano Maggiore, parish of migrants, under the Archdiocese of Milan in Italy.
Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport is expected to celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8 at Westport to personally welcome Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage.
The Assumption Parish was founded in 1876 and has become a center for the Filipino-American Catholic community in the diocese.
There are now three officially enthroned images of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage in the U.S. The two others are at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in the Archdiocese of Washington and at the Brooklyn’s diocese’s St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Bayside, New York.
Another Our Lady of Antipolo image has been approved to be enthroned next year at St. Catherine of Siena Parish at Reseda, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.
Other locations where an official replica of Our Lady of Antipolo can be found are at the Pontifical Filipino College in Rome and the Basilica and National Shrine of Gran Promesa in Valladolid, Spain. – Kendrick Ivan B. Panganiban / CBCP News
