Over Easter week, a group of 16 special needs youth from the Archdiocese of Newark took the journey of a lifetime – traveling 3,683 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to visit the Grotto of the Apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes in Southern France. 

Since 1995, over 200 young people with special needs have made the Easter pilgrimage to Lourdes without any cost to their families. The trip, which some would consider its own miracle, provides life-changing pilgrimages to Lourdes each Easter week for youth with physical or developmental disabilities, ranging from Downe Syndrome to Cerebral Palsy.  

The American Special Children's Pilgrimage Group (ASCPG), better known as "The Lourdes Kids,” was founded in 1995 by Northern New Jersey residents Rosemarie and Gerry Flood. The organization was founded under the umbrella of the Hosanna House and Children's Pilgrimage Trust (HCPT), a registered charity based out of the United Kingdom offering pilgrimage holidays to Lourdes in the south of France for disabled and disadvantaged people from around the United Kingdom. 

While COVID-19 travel restrictions prevented the group from making the pilgrimage for the past three years, they were excited to resume the trip this Easter, according to Rosemarie Flood. 

"In 1995, Gerry and I had no idea what we were doing and no idea what ASCPG could become – but Mary and Saint Bernadette have always had our backs and continue to sustain us,” Rosemarie Flood told Jersey Catholic. “Honestly, I just could not imagine being anywhere during Easter Week other than Lourdes with 80 to 90 truly special guests and amazing volunteers. It simply fills your soul. ASCPG has been a family for 28 years, and my real family – the two of us and my daughters – are blessed to be part of it." 

The trip is unique for several reasons, including the fact that parents do not accompany their children. Instead, the children travel with caring and trained volunteers who create a family atmosphere for them to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The ASCPG recruits adult helpers, nurses, doctors, and clergy to accompany the youth on their journey.  

The trip was attended by both Bishop Manuel A. Cruz, D.D., Titular Bishop of Gaguari and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark and Bishop Gregory J. Studerus, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark. Other clergy from the Archdiocese of Newark who attended this year included Father Sam Citero from Saint Therese of Lisieux Parish in Creskill, Father Peter Palmisano from Our Lady of Mount Virgin in Garfield, and Father Robert McLaughlin. 

High school students serve as “buddies” on the pilgrimage.

In 2009, to meet the social and emotional needs of the youth pilgrims during the trip the ASCPG sought to create a youth group for high school students looking to serve on the pilgrimage. 

“We were looking for young people who were willing to step outside of themselves and, for a week, really give of themselves,” Rosemarie Flood said. “They [the youth group] are there to provide a good time and youthful energy for the trip, as well as provide assistance for the adult helpers." 

The youth group started at Saint Joseph Parish in Oradell and has continued to grow over the years. The group now meets at Saint Therese of Lisieux Parish in Creskill, where a Special Needs Mass that was inspired by the Lourdes trip is held each month. The youth group serves at the Mass, plays music, and participates in social activities with the special needs youth. 

Father Samuel Citero, pastor of Saint Therese of Lisieux Parish in Cresskill, attended the pilgrimage for the first time in 2013 and has gone every year since.  

During the pilgrimage, Father Citero said he witnessed liturgies filled with song and lively worship that truly engaged the special needs children. He was inspired to recreate the experience of an inclusive liturgy for individuals with special needs after they returned to the United States. With the help of the parish community at Saint Therese of Lisieux, he began hosting a monthly Special Needs Mass at the parish.  

“In this environment, they know they are safe – nobody is going to stare at them or tell them to be quiet – this is a safe place for them to come,” Father Citero said.  

Unfortunately, he explained, families with special needs children can often feel ostracized from the parish community and as a result, do not take their children to Mass. “The whole parish community has become involved in helping host the Special Needs Mass by serving coffee afterward and socializing with the families. And as a result, those families have now become comfortable attending weekly Masses as well,” he said. 

The special needs community at Saint Therese has grown far beyond the ASCPG community, attracting families with special needs children and adults from all over the state, Father Citero said. 

During the trip, the high school students accompany the pilgrims from breakfast to bedtime, providing them with camaraderie and friendship. Among the many activities they participate in are daily Masses and trips to the Grotto where Saint Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary, a day trip to Gavarnie, a town-wide scavenger hunt, a walking tour, a Thursday night party, and family-style meals every night, along with plenty of social time. 

Students from New Jersey and New York who will be in grades 9-12 at the time of the trip are eligible to apply to serve on the pilgrimage. Applicants must resubmit an application every year. The ASCPG leaders conduct interviews with applicants, and the teens must make a commitment to volunteer and fundraise in the six months leading up to the pilgrimage. For the Easter 2024 pilgrimage, applications will be due Aug. 31. 

Liz Rodriguez, a junior at Saint Dominic Academy in Jersey City, attended the trip for the first time this year as a youth helper. Rodriguez, who has been looking forward to volunteering on the trip since she was a child, said that the experience was “almost indescribable.” 

“I was extremely excited and jumped at the opportunity to go with the youth group this year,” she said. Rodriguez, as a member of the ASPCG youth group, plays the guitar in the music ministry at Saint Therese of Lisieux Parish. Her father become involved with the group as an adult volunteer in 2010 when he took her older brother David on the trip as a pilgrim. Her family has been a part of the ASCPG community ever since. 

“My favorite part of all of it was when we were in Lourdes, in between activities, the pilgrims get to relax and we just hang out with the pilgrims, sing songs, and play games,” Rodriguez said. “It is a lot of fun to see the joy on their faces and just be there and be happy with them.” 

Her brother Gabe Rodriquez, a senior at Saint Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, also attended the trip as a youth helper for the first time this year. He said that his favorite aspect of participating in the ASCPG youth group has been sharing joy with the pilgrims through music. He plays the box drum for the music ministry at Saint Therese of Lisieux Parish during their monthly Special Needs Mass. 

“I very much loved the moments when I could play music while hanging out, and it would help liven up the room,” he said. “The small moments of sharing joy and love, especially through music, were the best parts for me.” 

His favorite part of the trip was a personal moment at the Grotto where he prayed the rosary. 

“It was just a beautiful moment between me and God and Mary,” he said. 

Since 1858, Lourdes, France has become one of the most visited pilgrimage sites by Catholics in the world. It was in 1858 when Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, proclaimed she had had 18 encounters with the Virgin Mary. Our Lady of Lourdes is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary recalling her apparitions in the Grotto at Lourdes, France to Saint Bernadette. In her apparitions, Our Lady instructed Bernadette to dig in the ground nearby, from which came a spring with healing properties, active to this day. 

In 2019, the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) filmed a seven-part docuseries about the ASCPG trip. 

Rosemarie Flood said that the trip is transformative for the pilgrims and gives the disabled youth a newfound sense of belonging and self-worth. “Here, they are comforted and enveloped, and in Lourdes people care for them and want to bring joy to them.” The trip, she said, helps them realize “they are as worthy of friendships and normal experiences as anyone else... which is what they should have been feeling all along.” 

Travelers with the ASCPG pose in front of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Lourdes, France during their 2023 pilgrimage. 

ASCPG pilgrims Diana and Brad with youth helpers Tara and Carina. 

From left to right, adult helper Ciatriona, youth helper Aidan, and pilgrim Dylan prepare for the Thursday night Trust Mass, a liturgical gathering hosted annually for the pilgrims of the ASCPG and HCPT and described as the “highlight of the week” for many of the pilgrims. 

Father Robert McLaughlin celebrates Mass at the Grotto with the ASCPG pilgrims.