Celebrating their faith that has crossed oceans and spanned generations, Asian and Pacific Island Catholics from throughout the Washington area and eastern United States came together on May 2, 2026 for their 23rd annual Marian Pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
“Your heritage has taught you how to live the Gospel quietly but powerfully,” said Bishop Evelio Menjivar, the main celebrant of the Mass. One day earlier, the auxiliary bishop of Washington had been appointed by Pope Leo XIV to become the new bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia.
Praising the legacy of faith of Asian and Pacific Island Catholics, the bishop noted how they “persevere in the faith and share it with others,” witnessing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their homes, workplaces and communities.
The hundreds of pilgrims came from as near as downtown Washington, D.C., and suburban Maryland and Baltimore and from as far away as New York City, Philadelphia, Richmond, Virginia and Charlotte, North Carolina.
The pilgrimage began with Confessions being offered at the basilica for participants, and then 10 youth from St. Andrew Kim Korean Catholic Church in Olney, Maryland, dramatically played a staccato beat of traditional drums at the front of the basilica’s sanctuary to herald the start of an afternoon of prayer and worship.
Then the participating communities, including Burmese, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Korean and Vietnamese Catholics joined a procession toward the altar, holding banners, wearing native dress and reverently carrying statues and images of Mary from their cultures.
A woman introducing the procession said it is “a beautiful expression of our shared love and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.”
The procession included women from Our Lady of La Vang Mission in Chantilly, Virginia, who wore red silken dresses and carried on their shoulders a platform with an ornate image of Our Lady of Vietnam. Also walking in the procession were young women from Our Lady of Vietnam Parish in Silver Spring, Maryland who wore silken light blue and pink dresses with floral patterns and who would later perform a traditional dance during the call to prayer.
Marching to honor Our Lady of Good Health, Vailankanni, women from the Indian Catholic community wore golden and white-colored saris. Also wearing traditional dress were men and women from the Our Lady of the Highlands Montagnard Catholic Community who traveled from Charlotte, North Carolina. The Montagnard are indigenous people from the central highlands of Vietnam. As they walked toward the altar, the young Montagnard women made rhythmic movements with their hands and arms, and the men tapped on traditional gongs that they held in their hands.
The different groups each placed their statues and images of Mary at the front of the sanctuary.
Then the call to prayer featured sacred songs and movements from Asian and Pacific Island cultures.
The Chinese Catholic Community from the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, performed an elegant traditional dance. Next the young women from Our Lady of Vietnam Catholic Church danced with fans and with colorful flowers displayed in their traditional pointed straw hats.
The women from the Montagnard Catholic community wore dark embroidered traditional dress and made expressive dance movements, while the men from their group knelt behind them and tapped bamboo-like sticks.
Members of St. Paul Chung Catholic Church in Fairfax, Virginia, performed a traditional Korean fan dance, and then dancers from the Chinese Catholic Community of Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic Church in Philadelphia wearing white and red traditional dress accented by ornate floral patterns concluded the call to prayer with an elaborate fan dance featuring sweeping movements.
Then Christine and Mark Ma and their young children Therese, Anastasia, Charles and James representing the Chinese Catholic Community in Washington, D.C., walked to the sanctuary together, and Christine Ma flanked by her daughters crowned the statue of Mary.
In an interview later that afternoon, Christine Ma said crowning Mary that day “is a gift to our family,” and she noted that their daughter Therese would be receiving her First Holy Communion in two weeks at St. Mary Mother of God Church in Washington, where the Our Lady of China Pastoral Mission has Masses in Cantonese. The couple was married there, and their four children have been baptized there.
Christine Ma said the pilgrimage and Mass for Asian and Pacific Island Catholics also offered an opportunity to pray for the suffering Catholic Church in China. “We’re united with them in faith,” she said.
The annual pilgrimage was sponsored by the Asian and Pacific Catholic Network in collaboration with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, with support from the Office of Cultural Diversity and Outreach of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
In welcoming remarks to the pilgrims that afternoon, Msgr. Vito Buonanno, the director of pilgrimages at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, said the Asian and Pacific Island Catholics participating in the annual pilgrimage offer an inspiring witness of faith. He said Catholics from different cultures “all turn to Mary.”
Then members of five groups led the congregation in praying the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary, beginning the prayers in their native language, with people praying the Hail Mary in English. The groups leading the rosary included members of the Syro-Malankara Eastern Catholic Rite in the Archdiocese of Washington; people from the Church of the Vietnamese Martyrs in Richmond, Virginia; Filipino parishioners from the Shrine of St. Jude in Rockville, Maryland who prayed in Tagalog; members of St. Andrew Kim Korean Catholic Church in Olney, Maryland; and members of the Burmese Catholic Community.
After participants prayed the Hail Holy Queen and Litany of Our Lady of Loreto prayers, the Mass began, with Bishop Menjivar and eight concelebrating priests processing to the altar, as a song of praise in Tagalog was sung. The choirs at the Mass included the Filipino Choir from St. Edward the Confessor Parish in Bowie, Maryland; and a Vietnamese Choir from Our Lady of La Vang Catholic Mission in Chantilly, Virginia.
As the Mass began, Bishop Menjivar solemnly incensed the ornate statues of Mary at the front of the sanctuary from the different Asian and Pacific Island cultures.
In his homily, the bishop commended the Asian Catholics on their journey of faith across oceans and generations. His own journey of faith included migrating to the United States in 1990, and in 2023 being ordained as an auxiliary bishop of Washington, becoming the first Salvadoran bishop serving in the United States. He will be installed as the bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, which includes the entire state of Virginia, on July 2 at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Wheeling.
Bishop Menjivar noted that the pilgrims had come that day to visit their spiritual mother’s home, and whenever you visit your mother, you never leave empty-handed.
“Be confident that you are going to receive many blessings,” he said.
The bishop noted that it was fitting that the annual pilgrimage takes place in May, the month of Mary and Mother’s Day and during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
“Your faith is shaped by a profound love for Blessed Mary,” he said, emphasizing how she loves her children and tenderly takes them by the hand and leads them to her son Jesus and intercedes for them, so they can “experience the love, the peace and the renewal she wants to bring to us.”
Bishop Menjivar also underscored how “Mary walks with us… She gathers our concerns, struggles and hopes and presents them to her Son.”
He encouraged the pilgrims to follow Mary’s example in saying “yes” to God’s plan, and for them to allow Jesus’s love to shape their minds, hearts and decisions.
The bishop praised Asian and Pacific Island Catholics for being witnesses to their faith in the Church and in society, offering a model of an authentic way of life rooted in the Gospel, as they persevere in the faith and share it with others.
“May Mary guide our pilgrimage of faith,” he said as he concluded his homily.
Then prayer intentions were offered in English and in various Asian and Pacific Island languages, including Tagalog, Vietnamese, Malayalam, Bengali, Indonesian, Urdu and Korean.
After Communion, Clarissa Ann Martinez, the assistant director for Asian and Pacific Island Affairs in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, praised Mary as a mother to migrants seeking safety and to families planting new roots. “In her steadfast love, we find belonging. In her ‘yes,’ we find our own path of hope,” she said.
Martinez also praised and thanked Bishop Menjivar, noting, “For years, you have walked with the people of this local Church – with humility, compassion, and a shepherd’s heart. You have stood with migrants, families, and communities seeking a spiritual home, because you yourself know the journey of searching for safety, dignity, and welcome.”
The USCCB official also offered special thanks to the Asian and Pacific Island communities who had gathered for the pilgrimage, which she noted included the participation of so many families, including children and youth.
“Your colors, your stories, your songs, your intergenerational love weave a radiant tapestry of faith,” Martinez said.
She praised the Asian and Pacific Island Catholics as “a community shaped by love for Mary, a people who have carried our devotion to her across islands, nations and generations. Her example has formed our families, strengthened our faith and united our many cultures into one community of disciples.”
After the Mass, Janet Harmon, a Filipino Catholic who serves on the board of the Asian and Pacific Catholic Network, said, “It’s so good to see our fellow Asian and Pacific Islanders join us in sharing our faith… There’s such a great unity.”
The member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Lexington Park, Maryland, noted that about a dozen parishes in the archdiocese have monthly Masses in Tagalog for Filipino Catholics, who also have special celebrations during the year for saints from the Philippines and a traditional novena at Christmas.
Praising the annual pilgrimage, Harmon said, “When we gather with all these expressions of faith, we are stronger in building His Church in the rising Asian and Pacific Island Catholic community.”
That point was echoed in an interview earlier that afternoon by Naomi Wulansari, the president of the Indonesian Catholic Community in the Archdiocese of Washington, which has a monthly Mass at St. John the Baptist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland.
She noted how beautiful it is to see people from Asia and the Pacific Islands who are from different countries and who speak different languages but are united in their Catholic faith, placing their venerated images of Mary before the sanctuary during the procession, which was followed by the call to prayer featuring the traditional cultural dances and music.
“We feel like we belong,” she said as the pilgrimage unfolded in the largest Catholic church in North America.
