Geloofsgesprek bij Lourdesgrot in Driebergen

Bernadet Albers will participate in a faith conversation at the Lourdes grotto in Driebergen on September 20. The program, which airs at 9:45 a.m. on NPO 2, precedes a televised weekly Mass broadcast at 10:00 a.m. from Lourdes. Dean Ed Smeets from the Diocese of Roermond will serve as the celebrant for the Mass.

Albers is a volunteer who has visited Lourdes approximately 40 times and helps organize and lead pilgrimages for the Archdiocese of Utrecht. She served as a team leader for the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes earlier this year, which included 1,500 pilgrims. Albers describes Lourdes as a place for meeting oneself, others, and God, noting that the site is now often viewed as a place of hope and comfort rather than just a location for miracles.

The Lourdes grotto used for the recording is located on the grounds of the former Rijsenburg seminary. Built around 1900, the grotto fell into disrepair and lost its statue of Mary after the seminary closed in 1968. A new statue of Mary was placed in the grotto when it was restored in 2016.