Geloofsgesprek bij Lourdesgrot in Driebergen-Rijsenburg

Bernadet Albers will participate in a faith conversation at the Lourdes grotto in Driebergen-Rijsenburg on September 20. The program, which airs at 9:45 a.m. on NPO 2, precedes a weekly televised Eucharist celebration at 10:00 a.m. on the same channel. 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 pilgrimages for the Archdiocese of Utrecht. She previously served as the travel leader for a diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes earlier this year that 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 grotto where the conversation will be recorded is located on the grounds of the former Rijsenburg major 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.