Celebrating culture, faith and community

December 13, 2023

Diocese celebrates national shrine cathedral on Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

By Amy White and Michael Gresham
The Texas Catholic

The sounds of Marian songs cascaded down from the bell tower as projected images of San Juan Diego’s tilma and Our Lady of Guadalupe blanketed the façade of the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The scene reflected the spirit of faith, devotion and community on display Dec. 12, marking the first celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe since the cathedral had been elevated to a national shrine by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“This year we celebrate that our cathedral has been elevated to a national shrine,” said Bishop Edward J. Burns, bishop of the Diocese of Dallas, who celebrated a vigil Mass at the cathedral on Dec. 11 for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a bilingual, commemorative Mass for the national shrine designation on Dec. 12. “This is our way of recognizing the faithfulness of the people of this diocese and the love we have for Our Lady of Guadalupe.”

Each year, tens of thousands of pilgrims visit the Dallas cathedral between Dec. 11-12, honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe on her feast day. This year, an even more festive atmosphere radiated from the cathedral’s plaza as mariachis serenaded the Virgin, matachines performed traditional dances in her honor and a constant flow of pilgrims made their way into the sanctuary to place flowers beneath her image on the altar.

“We have seen people who have come from around the country and also around the world,” said Bishop Burns, who initiated the process to have the cathedral elevated to a national shrine by making a request to the USCCB almost a year ago.

Bishop Burns expressed that throughout his life he has always had a special connection with Our Lady, noting that she has played a pivotal role in his own journey of faith as well as helping guide him in his ministry.

“We recognize that Our Lady of Guadalupe plays a significant role in the lives of the faithful in our Catholic tradition,” Bishop Burns said on Dec. 12. “She accompanies them on their journeys through life — their journeys of faith. With this, they seek out a national shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe so as to give thanks for her intercession to God, to give thanks for the many gifts and blessings they have received.”

Diocesan officials estimate that more than 50,000 people visited the national shrine cathedral in Dallas on the vigil and feast day, Dec. 11-12. The sanctuary was packed for the Mass on Dec. 12 with hundreds in overflow seating in the Grand Salon and even more outside on the cathedral plaza. For the parish community that makes up the cathedral and the pilgrims on hand — many of both from immigrant families — Bishop Burns had a special message at the end of the evening’s Mass.

“Be strong. Be strong in faith, and welcome to the United States,” Bishop Burns said. “The church is your home, and it is an honor to be your bishop.”

In his homily at the celebratory Mass, Father Jesús Belmontes, rector of the cathedral, asked that the faithful recognize Mary as an advocate for their faith and their lives.

“Mary is our advocate who leads us in our pilgrimage of life,” Father Belmontes said. “She wants us to be focused on our savior Jesus Christ because He is the light and the way; and that is why she became the first disciple of Him since He was in her womb. She wants for us to become His disciples, too.”

In gathering together to celebrate not only Our Lady’s feast but also the elevation of the Dallas cathedral, Father Belmontes urged the faithful to hear the call to evangelize.

“By being together tonight in our national shrine cathedral, we understand that we have been called to commit to be people of light, people of hope, people that know how to be light in the world and how to continue sharing our life with the one Mary brings us through her son, Jesus Christ,” he said.

Joy and excitement
Luis Chávez and his wife, Araceli, had been at the national shrine cathedral since Dec. 10, preparing for the celebration of the feast day. His wife plays the drums for the cathedral’s matlachines, which was among more than 25 different matachines groups from around the diocese dancing at the shrine in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast day Dec. 11 and 12.

“Knowing that our cathedral now is a national shrine, it’s exciting and inspiring. It’s especially exciting when you are a part of all of this,” Chávez said, adding that he and his wife have been parishioners at the cathedral for 20 years. “It gives you this feeling of accomplishment and of appreciation.”

Blanca Segura, a parishioner of St. Edward Catholic Church in Dallas, attended the Dec. 12 festivities wearing traditional Mexican clothing, with garments handmade by her mother. Segura is originally from Mexico but now lives in Dallas, where she attends the Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration at the cathedral each year.

“It’s really important for me because when I was a little girl, my mother told me to give respect to the church for Santa Maria Guadalupe… I remember the things my mother told me. Santa Maria Guadalupe takes care of me,” Segura said, adding, “I come to pray for everybody, for my family, for my friends, for everybody.”

Another attendee of the celebration, Martha Rincon, grew up going to Mass at the cathedral with her family. This year, she and her family participated in the Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration together. Rincon described the festivities as an “embrace of religion and faith.”

“It’s the Virgin Mary’s day. It’s just very special for us… It’s the perfect way to honor her,” Rincon said. “I was very emotional about it. It was a very beautiful experience.”

For many, the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is an opportunity to thank the Virgin Mother for her intercession to God on behalf of the faithful.

“This is the height of the year for celebrating [Mary] and what she means as the Mother of God, Our Father,” said Danette Volkmer, the wife of Deacon Chris Volkmer, a deacon at the cathedral. “Mary is the earthly Mother of the faithful, so people come to pay their tribute. It’s always a huge celebration every year… People come from all over. It’s kind of amazing.”

A welcoming community
The National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a national landmark for pilgrims, a place of deep historical, cultural and spiritual significance in the heart of the Dallas Arts District—it is also a home parish to many Catholics in north Texas.

Parishioners of the cathedral have walked with their parish through the historic national shrine designation, rejoicing in the change while also taking comfort in what has remained the same: a community of inclusion, connection and religious devotion.

Raquel Loera, with her husband Jesús Loera, has been a parishioner of the cathedral since 1978, almost 50 years. The couple joined the parish only five years into their marriage. Since then, they’ve not only raised their own children within the community but also formed a different kind of family, a parish family.

“[The cathedral] is very special to us, because that’s where we started our marriage. That’s where we’re dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe for all the blessings we have received. I cannot tell you all the blessings we have received,” Loera said. “Our community, our friends have all been there for many years in different events with their children. Now, they’re older. Ours are older. We still share all the things that we have learned from our church.”

Loera and her husband have become an integral part of the parish family at the cathedral over their last half-century there, volunteering as ushers, event organizers and Marriage Encounter leaders. Loera was a recipient of the Bishops Award for Service to the Church in 2018, and this year, the couple celebrated 50 years of marriage at the Golden Anniversary Mass at the cathedral.

The couple witnessed the parish come together to give of time, talent and resources. Loera recalled how the cathedral parishioners joined together years ago to supply jewels for the golden crown that hangs above the Our Lady of Guadalupe image at the cathedral.

“We passed the basket for Sunday donations, and everybody was taking their rings off and putting them in the basket, their earrings off and putting them in the basket, a lot of original donated jewelry,” she recounted. “That crown that is up there, it is made from a lot of parishioners that donated that jewelry. I think that was beautiful to see the faith they had and what they wanted for Our Virgin.”

The golden crown remains in the cathedral, a demonstration of the generous and collaborative spirit of the parishioners.

“We have beautiful parishioners who are always willing to help in the different ways that we can,” Loera said. “We love it.”

Celebrating that spirit community, Bishop Burns hosted a special dinner for longtime parishioners and volunteers following the Dec. 12 celebratory Mass.

A place for pilgrims
The National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe remains a pilgrimage site for devout believers, a place to honor the Virgin of Guadalupe.

“What makes [the cathedral] so special is being a shrine for Our Lady of Guadalupe,” said Alice Hernández, 82, a longtime parishioner of the cathedral. “We have so many parishioners that that’s their main focus. We have some visitors that that’s the focus. We have people coming from all over to the shrine, especially people from Mexico, because they come to worship.”

Hernández has been with her parish for years: She was baptized at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, the church that would eventually merge with Sacred Heart Cathedral, where she was married, and which would become the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She has remained with the cathedral for decades.

Like many parishioners at the cathedral, Hernandez has a devotion to Mary. Hernández, along with several other parishioners, was able to honor Our Lady in a unique way in 2001. An image of Our Lady of Guadalupe hangs behind the altar in the cathedral, underneath the golden crown. The image, which is a replica of the tilma of Juan Diego, was gifted to the cathedral by the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Hernandez led the pilgrimage to the Vatican to have the image carried across Italy and Greece and, eventually, blessed by Pope John Paul II.

“Of course, I was very proud when it was installed at the cathedral. It was blessed by Pope John Paul in October, and it was installed at the Cathedral in December,” Hernández said. “It was just something very, very special. Every time I see the image, I remember it being held up and being blessed.”

A celebration of faith
Msgr. Lawrence Pichard, who was the first diocesan priest to be appointed the cathedral’s rector following the departure of the Carmelite fathers in the late 1980s, called the elevation to a national shrine a blessing for its community, the Diocese of Dallas and the church in the United States.

“I think it is a wonderful blessing for the diocese,” said Msgr. Pichard, who served as rector from 1988 to 1999. “So many people, from all over the United States, come to visit our cathedral. It’s appropriate that our cathedral, dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, would be named a national shrine.”

Meanwhile, Father Eduardo González, who served as rector from 2006 to 2012, said the cathedral’s elevation to a national shrine was an important moment not only for its community but for the whole diocese.

“The hand of the Virgin of Guadalupe is in all this so that more people at the national level, and even international level, would have the chance to meet her and with that, meet her son Jesus, and together, reach the Father’s house,” he said. “Ultimately, Mary’s message is her son Jesus. Mary is the one leading us to Jesus. The magnetism that the Virgin of Guadalupe has will bring national attention to this place. By looking at her, people can get to Jesus and ultimately to Our God Father.”

For Father Belmontes, the elevation to a national shrine brings him great joy in two distinct ways: as a priest and as a Guadalupano (a person with a devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe).

Ordained in the Diocese of Dallas in 2004 and a native of Mexico, Father Belmontes was named the rector of the cathedral a little more than two years ago, after leading the community of San Juan Diego Catholic Parish, which serves a large Hispanic and immigrant group of parishioners.

“For us Hispanics, it is an honor that the Diocese of Dallas is under the protection of the Virgin of Guadalupe,” said Father Belmontes, adding that having Our Lady of Guadalupe as the patroness speaks to how much the church in Dallas embraces the Hispanic community.

Currently, nearly 10,000 parishioners participate in the Sunday Masses at the national shrine cathedral. In addition, Father Belmontes said that more than 30,000 people participate annually in the cathedral’s celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12.

Father Belmontes added that there are currently 20 active ministries; among the newest are youth and altar server ministries.

The rector sees this new chapter in the history of the cathedral as one in which the Our Lady of Guadalupe evangelization will soar.

“It will be an opportunity for those who do not know the history of her apparitions,” Father Belmontes said. “It will be a great catechesis for everyone. We will enter into a new evangelization around the history and legacy of the Virgin of Guadalupe throughout the diocese.”

Constanza Morales, managing editor of Revista Católica Dallas, and Violeta Rocha, a writer for Revista Católica Dallas, contributed to this story.

Find more photos from the celebration!