Pilgrims prepare for Knock to New York flight

Anton McNulty

New York may be known more as a pilgrimage for Irish shoppers, but next week 130 pilgrims will depart Knock Airport for the Big Apple.
Upwards of 130 pilgrims led by Fr Richard Gibbons, Parish Priest of Knock will fly out from Ireland West Airport Knock on May 8 in a specially chartered Aer Lingus to New York JFK airport.
For the last two year, groups of pilgrims have flown from New York and Boston into Knock Aiport but this year the pilgrims will be heading in the opposite direction across the Atlantic for a special and historic six-day trip.
The purpose of the visit is to have the remains of John Curry, the youngest person to witness the Knock Apparition of 1879, to be reinterred from his current position in Long Island to St Patrick’s old Cathedral in New York.
John Curry was just five years old when along with 14 others, he witnessed the Apparition of Our Lady at the gable wall of the parish church in Knock on August 21, 1879. He later emigrated to the United States and died in 1943 and was buried in Pine Lawn Cemetery, Long Island.
His remains will be brought to old St Patrick’s Cathedral, Manhattan on Saturday, May 13 where a special Requiem Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
Some members of Mayo County Council including the Cathaoirleach, Cllr Al McDonnell will be among the pilgrims who will travel to New York for the event. As a result, the monthly meeting of Mayo County Council which was due to take place on Monday, May 8 has been brought forward for a week and will take place today, Tuesday, May 2.
Cardinal Dolan led the first Aer Lingus transatlantic pilgrimage flight from New York to Knock Airport in August 2015 and a year later another chartered Aer Lingus flight left Boston Airport for Knock.
The World Meeting of Families will take place in Dublin in August 2018 with thousands of Catholics from around the world expected to attend. It is hoped that pilgrimage flights from New York and Boston will fly into Knock and visit Knock Shrine before continuing on to Dublin for the event.