Pilgrimages to Caritas of Birmingham – 2021 Dates and Prices

Why Come to Caritas of Birmingham?A New Gift from Our Lady for You

We are nearing the one-year mark of when Medjugorje closed to pilgrims last March 2020, due to the coronavirus. How can it be that we are nearing the 40th Anniversary of Our Lady of Medjugorje’s Apparitions this June, 2021, and the Village of Peace, the place designated by God to be the setting for the spiritual renewal of the whole world, the location where the Woman of Revelation has been appearing daily for nearly 40 years, is closed off to the world?

In a recent conversation with close friends who live in and are native to Medjugorje, a Friend of Medjugorje was told that the borders between European countries are in a constant flux of opening and closing due to the so-called pandemic restrictions. This makes it impossible for pilgrims, even from Europe, to go to Medjugorje for fear they will get detained if the border suddenly closes, and they will not be able to return to their home country. Medjugorje is, literally, closed off from all sides, and the village that greeted the whole world for 40 years has become, once again, the small little village of the beginning days of the apparitions. When a Friend of Medjugorje asked if they thought Medjugorje would be opened up by June, 2021, for the anniversary, they said it was unlikely, at least at this point. No pilgrims to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the apparitions? No one could have even imagined the possibility of this a year ago.

A Friend of Medjugorje began bringing pilgrims to Medjugorje in 1986, through the mission of Caritas of Birmingham that he founded the same year, but found it difficult because there were not many flights available for the sudden interest and demand caused by Our Lady’s appearances in Medjugorje. Not many people had reasons to go to Communist Yugoslavia before the apparitions. A Friend of Medjugorje, therefore, became deeply involved in forming and setting up the infrastructure for pilgrimages from the entire continent of North America to Yugoslavia and onto Medjugorje.

Through a Friend of Medjugorje’s direction and business skills, BVM/Caritas Medjugorje Pilgrimages is the longest running pilgrimages from North America to Medjugorje. His own conversion in Medjugorje led a Friend of Medjugorje to develop the day-by-day itinerary for Caritas pilgrims that he has not strayed from in over 35 years because of seeing how the simple formula powerfully opens up the heart to conversion—over and over again. Deeply sensitive to Our Lady’s guidance through Her messages, he remained steadfast in what Our Lady had taught him and did not follow the lead of other groups who were constantly adding “new” sites to see and experience for their pilgrims, even when it proved to be leading pilgrims on a more superficial experience of Medjugorje. BVM/Caritas Medjugorje Pilgrimages, through a Friend of Medjugorje’s direction, has the reputation, built over three decades of bringing pilgrims to Medjugorje, to be the most spiritual pilgrimage to Medjugorje; a Five-Star experience in every manner. BVM/Caritas Medjugorje Pilgrimages is still the #1 Pilgrimage Group among all pilgrimage groups going to Medjugorje from North America.

The “stupid corona,” as Medjugorje visionary, Marija, refers to it (and a Friend of Medjugorje agrees the same), forced the cancellation of many pilgrimages to Medjugorje this past year, and at least for the time being, also in this new year of 2021. Many people have been deeply disappointed in having to cancel their plans, and are especially grieved that Our Lady will not be among the throngs of believers to usher in the 40th year of Her apparitions. Yet, Our Lady said:

September 2, 2016

“…Nothing is by chance…”

Is Our Lady giving the villagers a time of going back to the beginning days, to pray, reflect and sacrifice to help ready themselves for the great events (the Secrets, etc.) that will one day turn Medjugorje into a whirlwind of activity when it is thrust onto the world’s stage like never before? Whatever the reasons are that Medjugorje has been closed off from the world, it does not appear that it will be opened up any time soon.

Here, at Caritas, we spoke with many people last year who were disappointed that they would not be able to go to Medjugorje. In the midst of many of these conversations, the question came up over and over again if a Friend of Medjugorje would consider hosting pilgrimages to Caritas of Birmingham—taking his expertise in bringing pilgrims to Medjugorje and applying it to the formation of pilgrimages to Caritas. After spring and summer passed with no sign of Medjugorje opening up for the rest of the year, he began to take a serious look at the possibility of doing pilgrimages from here and soon after, announced the First Historic Pilgrimage to Caritas of Birmingham in October 2020. Over the past 33 years, since the first apparitions here in 1988, tens of thousands have made pilgrimages to Caritas. However, a Friend of Medjugorje has never organized official pilgrimages here, matching the experience here to what one experiences in the village of Medjugorje as a pilgrim, both physically and spiritually. This is a new endeavor he is initiating, through the mission of Caritas, to get hearts close to Our Lady and Her Son.

Applying the same principles, spiritual guidance and daily itinerary with the spiritual sites that Our Lady has blessed in Her apparitions at Caritas, it took little effort for a Friend of Medjugorje to develop a deeply spiritual experience for the pilgrims who come to encounter Our Lady here. It was very successful; the pilgrims who attended the five-day pilgrimage experienced deep conversion and a renewed walk with Our Lady. He could see Our Lady had been behind the whole inspiration of creating Medjugorje-type pilgrimages for pilgrims to experience at Caritas. While a Friend of Medjugorje had wanted to do this for years, it was these shut downs that opened up the door of opportunity, as requested from many of Caritas followers.