Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
11 days

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About Pilgrim Center of Hope

We are... 

• staff
• volunteers
• prayer intercessors
• benefactors

...answering Christ’s call to be missionaries of hope!

Pilgrim Center of Hope is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Catholic ministry, providing experiences & resources to help people live daily with hope, encountering Christ and the Church.  We are sustained by the prayers and financial donations of organizations and individuals who believe in this urgently-needed mission.

About The Foxes 

Deacon Tom & Mary Jane Fox
Co-Founders & Directors

Deacon Tom and Mary Jane Fox had a re-awakening of their Catholic faith in the 1980s. While on a trip through the Holy Land, they were directed by a local priest to take a silent walk along the Sea of Galilee. There, Jesus unmistakably spoke to them each.

In September 1986, Deacon Tom and Mary Jane Fox left their respective careers in hotel management and the travel industry to work full-time for St. Matthew Catholic Church. For the first seven years, their main ministry was door-to-door home visitation; in the first few years, they visited over 10,000 families.

During those seven years at St. Matthew Church – they helped establish Perpetual Adoration, faith formation ministries, produced secular radio programs “advertising” the Catholic Church & St. Matthew’s Chapel, and other outreach ministries at St. Matthew.

Tom was ordained to the permanent Diaconate in August 1988.

In 1993, they founded Pilgrim Center of Hope, an evangelization apostolate to guide people to Christ and the Church through evangelization outreach, media productions, conferences, parish missions and pilgrimages.

Tom and Mary Jane’s mission has included travel to parishes in California, Kansas, Louisiana, Mexico, and within Texas to give presentations on their ministry experiences, Parish Missions and on Door-to-Door Home Visitation Outreach. They assisted the pastor of St. Ignatius Parish in Belize City, Belize, in a parish-wide evangelization effort.

Their ministry of pilgrimages has led them to Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Greece and Turkey. Their specialty (and dearest to their hearts) is the Holy Land, having traveled there more than 66 times since 1986.

Their ministry work has been featured in five nation-wide Catholic periodicals and on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) show Living His Life Abundantly in 1995 on the video I Am the Bread of Life, produced by Stepstone Productions, Inc. In February 2008, they received the Catholic Television of San Antonio (CTSA) Leadership Award. In March 2011, they received Guadalupe Radio Network‘s Pescadores de Hombres (Fishers of Men) Award. In 2011, they were invested into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. In November 2012, they were awarded the Living Stones Solidarity Award from the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation for their work in the Holy Land.

They reflect, "The call we received from the Lord to serve in the field of Catholic evangelization has been a most enlightening, inspirational, and challenging vocation!"

https://pilgrimcenterofhope.org/about/staff.html 

Mission:
Pilgrim Center of Hope provides Catholic events, experiences, and media: initiating a desire in people to encounter Jesus Christ in their daily journey of life.

Our core values are humility & trust, docility & discernment, and kerygmatic joy.  

https://pilgrimcenterofhope.org/  

Pilgrimage Includes…

This unique journey of faith includes:

• Round trip airfare from San Antonio with Delta Airlines
• Airline taxes
• 4 nights at the Magdala Hotel in Galilee
• 5 nights at the Notre Dame Hotel in Jerusalem
• Daily breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Daily Mass at various holy sites
• Spiritual direction
• In-person pilgrimage meetings
• Preparation materials
• Pilgrim Book offering detailed daily schedule, maps, and information about the Holy Land
• Service of 40+years experienced pilgrimage group leaders
• Complimentary Tote Bag, Document Holder, and Luggage Tag
• All other taxes
• All Tips

Not included: travel insurance. 

Father Dennis Zerr,

Pastor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, Alice, Texas

I am a native Texan, born in Hondo up by San Antonio. I have two sisters and a brother. I was the firstborn son and as soon as I could walk, dad claimed me for his own and we spent every available moment in the woods, hunting and fishing. My uncle had a ranch so I got roped into various cowboy activities (no pun intended) like working cows and hauling hay. As I grew up, I had different summer jobs - worked for a carpenter, labored in the cabbage fields, laid asphalt on the highways… I went to Hondo High School (Go Owls!) where my most notable achievement was being voted “Most Quietest Boy.” After graduation, I went to Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos and got a degree in Computer Science. I worked in the “real” world for 18 years eventually becoming a Senior Systems Development Programmer. I was your basic computer geek. I loved it, was good at it, and was making a pile of money. And on weekends and vacation I would still head back to Hondo for hunting and fishing. I was having a great time and my plan was to get married, have 2.5 children, a house and a dog. But God had a different plan and it’s ALWAYS best to go with God’s plan. So after a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with Deacon Tom and Mary Jane Fox, I was off to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia for six years. I was ordained a priest at the ripe old age of 47. I spent seven years as an assistant at St. Patrick’s in Corpus Christi, five years as pastor of Holy Family in Taft, seven years as pastor of Sacred Heart in Falfurrias, and I have been pastor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Alice for three years. Every parish I’ve been in, I have found wonderful people and it’s been a pleasure to serve them. I've been to the Holy Land four times now - three times with Deacon Tom and Mary Jane. Every pilgrimage has been a wonderful spiritual experience and I'm looking forward to the next one with great and gleeful anticipation.

Day by day download

AUG 19: BEGINNING OUR PILGRIMAGE Depart San Antonio via jet service. Dinner and breakfast will be served on the flight.  Your expert pilgrimage leaders, Deacon Tom and Mary Jane Fox will be assisting you at the airport this day and throughout this journey. 

AUG 20: INTO THE LAND OF THE BIBLE Upon arrival in the afternoon, you will be met by our representative who will assist you with formalities. A luxury motorcoach will transfer you to the Sea of Galilee region.  Upon arrival, you will check into the Magdala Hotel for your four-night stay.  

AUG 21: MT. CARMEL / GALILEE  This morning visit the ancient village of Magdala where the Lord Jesus encountered Mary Magdalene, see the synagogue Jesus would have spent time.  The day continues with our time on the Mt of Beatitudes, from here we will see Agran view of the Sea of Galilee.  In the afternoon, we will be at the sites where Jesus multiplied the fish and loaves, where He met the apostles after His Resurrection.  Mass will be along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Return to our Hotel for dinner and overnight. 

AUG 22: GALILEE  This morning, we will board a boat on the calm surface of the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, the city where Jesus started His Ministry and the site of the Synagogue where He was teaching. We will see the house of St. Peter.  In the afternoon, we will drive to Mt. Tabor, the site of the Transfiguration. Mass will be at the Basilica of the Transfiguration.  Return to our Hotel for dinner and overnight.

AUG 23: NAZARETH & CANA This morning’s drive is to Cana where Christ performed his first miracle and where married couples can renew their marriage vows. In the afternoon, we will spend time in Nazareth; the Basilica of Annunciation houses the home of Mary. St. Joseph Church nearby is built over the home of the Holy Family.   Return to our hotel for dinner and overnight. 

AUG 24: ALONG THE JORDAN VALLEY Depart Galilee this morning and stop at the exit of the River Jordan from the Sea of Galilee. Continue along the Jordan Valley to Jericho and Tel El Sultan, ruins of one of the oldest cities in the world. From Jericho you can see the Mount of Temptation where Satan tempted Jesus when He fasted for forty days and forty nights. View the site where a shepherd boy found the Dead Sea Scrolls. Proceed to Jerusalem for dinner and overnight.

AUG 25: OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM  Experience the Way of the Cross in the early morning, walk along the Via Dolorosa – ending at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the site of the Crucifixion and the Tomb.  Visit Calvary and the Tomb of Our Lord followed by a short tour of the Basilica.  Return to hotel for breakfast.  Followed by unique walk through the “Who is the Man of the Shroud?” Exhibit.  The afternoon we will visit Mount Zion the Room of the Last Supper, Church of the Dormition, and then visit the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu built on the site of the house of Caiaphas which encloses the dungeon where Christ was kept on Holy Thursday night and where Peter denied Christ thrice. Visit the Wailing Wall, the most sacred spot in the world for the Jews.  Return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.

AUG 26: BETHLEHEM Drive to Bethlehem. Visit the Basilica of the Nativity, built over the site of the birthplace of Christ. Visit the Cave where Christ was born and it is the occasion to sing the traditional Christmas Hymns. A visit is made to the Chapel of St. Jerome, who lived here for many years and translated the Bible into Latin. The nearby Church of St. Catherine is the venue for the midnight Mass that is broadcast all over the world from Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. Continue to the Shepherds' Fields, recalling the “great throng of the heavenly hosts” who appeared to the shepherds and told them of the birth of the Savior.  Return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.  

AUG 27:  OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM  The morning will begin with a walk through a part of the Old City of Jerusalem to spend the morning at a site called “Ecce Homo”.  Here a Church and building are built over the ruins of the Antonian Fortress and the site where our Lord was condemned to death.  Here Pontius Pilate stood and said “Ecce Homo – Behold the Man”.  Our walk continues to the Church of St. Ann built over the birthplace of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Dinner and overnight.

AUG 28: MOUNTAINS OF JERUSALEM Drive to the Mount of Olives and the Pater Noster Church commemorating Christ’s teaching of the Our Father to the Disciples; Dominus Flevit, the spot where Christ wept over Jerusalem. Continue onward to Gethsemane to view the ancient olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane and to visit the Church of All Nations which houses the Rock of the Agony of Christ on Holy Thursday. In this church is a beautiful mosaic donated by the United States. Return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.

AUG 29: SAN ANTONIO Transfer to the airport for your return flight home to San Antonio.  Arrival in San Antonio in the morning, local time.