After you’ve begun to pray with fellow pilgrims, registered and paid the fee — with a little help from “alms for palms“, if you need it — it’s time for you to request the shuttle to step-off.
What shuttle? What for? When?
The shuttle service is provided through the charity of the pilgrim-volunteers of the Company of St. René Goupil (CSRG) apostolate.
But every pilgrim must request it, after registering.
Since all pilgrims need to recover their vehicles at the end of the pilgrimage, or to be shuttled to & from public transportation (PT), each pilgrim needs to plan in advance with the organizers.
Submitting the shuttle request facilitates your transportation Thursday, September 23, from Allentown to the required check-in at St. Mary’s Church in Hamburg, PA, and again Friday morning — if needed, from motel to check-in.
(Pilgrims camping Thursday night need to request the shuttle but only for the Thursday portion of the service, since Friday morning they are already at the step-off point at St. Mary’s Church in Hamburg.)
Here’s how it works, with options for (a.) those driving solo, or (b.) those with passengers or car-pooling, or (c.) those arriving via public transportation:
a. On Thursday afternoon and early evening, lone-drivers drive solo to the vast parking lot directly off S. 5th Street in downtown Allentown, where the lot is enclosed by Martin Luther King (MLK) Blvd and Lehigh St in downtown Allentown.
Pilgrim-drivers receive instructions where to park their vehicles in the vicinity until Sunday.
The CSRG volunteers then shuttle the drivers to the pilgrimage starting point for the required check-in at St. Mary’s Church campus in Hamburg, PA: and, after check-in, to each pilgrim’s local motel, as requested.
b. For those pilgrims car-pooling or with passengers, drivers must first drop them and their gear off at the step-off location: the starting-point of the pilgrimage at St. Mary Church in Hamburg, PA: whether at a motel or the church campus itself.
Then, the drivers drive solo (as above) to the rendezvous point in the huge vacant lot at the cul de sac of 5th Street (directly behind St. Stephen of Hungary Church) and the intersection of Lehigh St and Martin Luther King Blvd. Pilgrim-organizers then instruct drivers where to park their vehicles in the vicinity until Sunday.
In this case also, the CSRG volunteers shuttle the drivers from end-point back to the pilgrimage starting-point for the required check-in: and, later, to a local motel, as requested.
c. For pilgrims flying into Lehigh Valley Airport (ABE), or arriving by train or bus in Allentown, the shuttle service can be requested to pick-up directly at the terminal.
Are you arriving in the region by PT after 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 23, or departing before 7:00 p.m. Sunday, September 26?
In that case, then you must e-mail or phone the volunteer in charge of shuttling pilgrims prior to finalizing your flight/train/bus reservations to/from the Allentown metro-region. (Find his contact info on this page, in the right margin, under the “Important” notice.)
Veteran pilgrim Dennis Mitchell of Allentown, Pennsylvania, is once again heading the CSRG Transportation-Team. He and fellow-pilgrims of the Company need your cooperation, ASAP. Please help them plan the necessary arrangements for hundreds of pilgrims. Please request the shuttle, without delay.
It only takes three or four minutes, and will save you — and organizers — hours of easily avoidable difficulties.
Only after you request the shuttle will you be able to ask Mr. Mitchell questions not already answered in this blog post or on the website.
When you request the shuttle, Mr. Mitchell will automatically send to you an e-mail confirming your request, and you’ll then have his contact info in case you need to ask him a question.
For more information about the shuttle service, see the FAQs.
To ask other pilgrims for rides, to offer a ride to share travel expenses, or to form car-pools, check the Pilgrimage bulletin board and forum at http://pilgrimage.forumotion.com, or the Facebook group page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/pilgrimage.for.restoration/.
After you have submitted your shuttle request, you will also be able to ask Mr. Mitchell to check if another pilgrim may be driving a route along your way to pilgrimage — in order to car-pool.
Pilgrimage for Restoration
Come to restore. The rest will come.
26th annual — 2021 A.D.
Friday – Sunday
24-26 September
“Now is the acceptable time.”
Your friends staying home this year can make pilgrimage from afar, from home or parish: obtain a plenary indulgence, sponsor a pilgrim (or two), request prayers or offer them — all from this page.
Listen to and learn the Songs of Pilgrimage!
“No one makes pilgrimage alone.”
Oremus pro invicem.
In unione orationum.
Ad majorem Dei gloriam.
