DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Vickie Satlov lives in Manhattan now, but on Ash Wednesday, she made a special trip to the Diocese of Brooklyn to visit the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Downtown Brooklyn to receive ashes from Bishop Robert Brennan and take the first step in her Lenten Pilgrimage.
This is the third year in a row that Satlov, who is a graduate of St. Francis Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows, has participated in the diocese’s Lenten Pilgrimage.
Ash Wednesday, which this year was celebrated on Feb. 18, marks the start of the Season of Lent leading to Easter Sunday. But it also marks the beginning of the Fourth Annual Lenten Pilgrimage, in which the faithful of the diocese are invited to visit a designated church along the pilgrimage route each day during Lent to attend Mass, pause, and reflect on their faith, and participate in Eucharistic Adoration.
There are 37 churches along the pilgrimage route this year, starting with the Cathedral Basilica of St. James on Ash Wednesday and ending with St. John the Baptist – Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish on Wednesday, April 1.
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“I’m doing the pilgrimage to support our Brooklyn and Queens churches, especially some of our poorer churches, and to be thankful for the wonderful blessings I have received,” Satlov explained before opening the Lenten Pilgrimage app created by DeSales Media Group (the entity that produces The Tablet and Currents News) to check in at her first stop.
The pilgrimage has taken on an added significance this year, as Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed 2026 as a Franciscan Jubilee Year in honor of the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi. The jubilee year began Jan. 10 and runs through Jan. 10, 2027.
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The Holy Father has encouraged the faithful to spend the year in prayerful contemplation and seek plenary indulgences — special graces of God’s mercy — by doing such things as going on pilgrimages to Franciscan churches, praying for the pope’s intentions, receiving the Holy Eucharist, and receiving the sacrament of reconciliation.
Bishop Brennan has dedicated this year’s Lenten Pilgrimage to the Franciscan Jubilee Year.
The diocese has one Franciscan church, St. Francis of Assisi Church in Astoria, that the faithful can visit during the pilgrimage. It is the designated church for March 28.
Even 800 years after his death, St. Francis of Assisi still has important lessons to teach the faithful during this Lenten Season, Bishop Brennan said.
“He emptied himself and didn’t just help the poor; he became poor,” he explained. “He stepped into the reality of people around him and lived very, very simply. What a great model for Lent.”
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As a St. Francis Prep graduate, Satlov said she and her fellow alums “are aware of what the charism of St. Francis is.” She hopes her participation in the pilgrimage will help her spiritually.
“I hope it helps me to learn be more charitable and to take into account our immigrant brothers and sisters,” she added.
Father Joseph Gibino, administrator of the Cathedral Basilica of St. James, said he was excited for this year’s pilgrimage. “All of the pilgrimage sites are new,” he explained, adding that the sites, except for St. James and the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights, have never been pilgrimage stops before.
“So, it’s exciting that people will get to see whole new areas of the diocese,” he said.
The diocese is offering pilgrimage participants something else new this year. Pilgrims who visit 20 or more churches can qualify for a certificate of recognition.
For Bishop Brennan, the pilgrimage provides the faithful “the chance to be united in prayer, to walk together.”
St. James, the first stop on the pilgrimage, is currently undergoing a major renovation, which Father Gibino said only adds to the excitement of the Lenten Season.
“We’re hoping that the Lenten Pilgrimage, the renovation of the cathedral, and all the excitement just is contagious leading up to Easter and the renewal of baptismal promises,” he said.