Christian Sanctuaries always and
everywhere have been or have sought to be signs of God, of his entering into
human history.
-St. John Paul II, Allocution to Rectors of Sanctuaries
Earlier this year, the Saint John Paul II Shrine was designated as a national shrine by the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
Coming from
the Latin scrinium, which describes a
chest or case used to store religious objects, a shrine is now generally understood as a
sacred space where pilgrims can come to worship God, contemplate His mysteries,
or venerate a particular holy figure.
According to our Executive Director Patrick Kelly, the Saint John Paul II National
Shrine is
…a place dedicated to the worship
of God who became man in Jesus Christ. It is a place of pilgrimage, where the
faithful and all people of good will can come to seek the face of Christ in the
spirit of, and through the intercession of, Saint John Paul II. Through the
shrine’s liturgy and life of prayer, as well as its programs of education and
Christian formation, pilgrims will be drawn more deeply into Saint John Paul
II’s love for God and for man.
This shrine is a response to
Saint John Paul II’s call for a new evangelization. It seeks to be a place of
genuine encounter with God that leads to a renewal of individuals, families and
society.
As the premier site dedicated to
Saint John Paul II in the United States, we are entrusted with the mission of
developing and promoting popular devotion to him. Many will come here because
of an enduring admiration for Saint John Paul II; others will be introduced to
him for the first time. The shrine is here to answer the questions: “Who is
Saint John Paul II?” “What does it mean to have a devotion to him?”
Some coming
developments to help make this happen will be a new church, scheduled to open
in 2015; a reliquary chapel; and a permanent 16,000 square foot exhibit on the
life and legacy of Saint John Paul II, to be named A Gift of Love: The Life of
Saint John Paul II.
