Post Eagle Newspaper

Wednesday

Feb 19, 2025

32°F, scattered clouds
New Jersey

Time Now

12:00:00

Black Madonna Icon Reaches Pacific Ocean
On Pro-Life “From Ocean To Ocean” Pilgrimage

On Friday July 4, Independence Day in the United States, Catholic and Orthodox pro-life Christians will celebrate another milestone in the historic worldwide From Ocean to Ocean Campaign in Defense of Life as the pilgrim icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa will reach the Pacific Ocean after beginning a pro-life pilgrimage across North America on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean last August.

“As we face increasing threats to our religious freedom in the midst of the greatest human rights violation in history-the war on innocent preborn lives in the womb-it is fitting that this milestone in the From Ocean to Ocean campaign will occur on the day we celebrate our freedom and independence in the U.S., and the birth of this great nation,” said Father Peter West, Human Life International Vice President for Missions, who is traveling across North America with the pilgrim icon. “We are asking for Our Lady’s intercession in this fight against a culture of death for the protection of the family and of all human life from conception to natural death.”

The Black Madonna icon of Our Lady will arrive in Astoria, Oregon on July 4, where a Mass will be offered at St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Parish at 8 a.m. to commemorate traveling “from ocean to ocean” across North America.

A group of Catholic and Orthodox pro-lifers, including representatives of Human Life International, began the global prayer campaign in defense of life and family under the patronage of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Vladivostok, Russia in the summer of 2012. After traveling 40,000 miles through 24 European nations, the Black Madonna icon continued the historic pilgrimage by coming to North America in August 2013 beginning with a ceremony at St. Clement’s Island, Maryland-the exact site of the first landing of Catholic pilgrims in the American British colonies of the 17th century. The pilgrim icon will begin traveling through Mexico and the rest of Latin America beginning in November 2014.

Since the pilgrim icon was welcomed on the shores of the Atlantic, the Black Madonna has traveled more than 33,000 miles crisscrossing the United States and parts of Canada. Along the way, the pilgrim icon has been viewed by millions and venerated by hundreds of thousands of Christians united in prayer for the defense of life and family around the world.

More information, updates from the road and pictures from this historic pro-life prayer campaign can be found at www.hli.org/oceantoocean.