(OSV News) -- In preparation for the 500th anniversary of Our Lady of Guadalupe's appearance to St. Juan Diego in five years, the dioceses of the U.S. will be participating in the Novena Intercontinental Guadalupana (Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena).
Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, chairman of the bishops' Subcommittee on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, addressed his fellow bishops June 11 during their spring plenary, sharing that one theologian had referred to Our Lady of Guadalupe as the "Queen of Marian Apparitions."
Franciscan Father Stefano Cecchin, president of the Pontifical International Marian Academy, told the bishop during a conference in Mexico City earlier this year that other apparitions talked about the rosary, repentance or unity of the family.
"But the message in Guadalupe included an entire array of theological messages that included ecclesiology, Christology, the role of the laity, the role of the hierarchy, enculturation," Bishop Cantú recalled Father Cecchin telling him.
Four years ago, the Mexican Episcopal Conference began a "Novena of Years" in anticipation of the quincentennial, and they have invited all dioceses throughout the Americas to join them for the remaining five years leading to the quincentennial.
"There is much depth to be plumbed for us in our dioceses and our communities in these five years that remain for this novena," Bishop Cantú said.
The bishop proposed a three-phase plan of pastoral activity. During the first phase, every ordinary will receive a replica of the tilma worn by Juan Diego to be used for veneration in cathedrals or other designated churches. The tilma will have been touched to the original, making it a third-class relic, and it could also journey to different parishes within the diocese.
Catechetical materials already being used in Mexico are in the process of being translated into English for use in the United States.
The National Eucharistic Congress in summer 2029 will kick off the second phase, which will include parish "Encuentros Guadalupanos" through 2031. The third phase would be the national celebration and would continue to the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus' death and resurrection in 2033.
After the presentation, Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio commented about how Our Lady of Gaudalupe can be a source of evangelization.
"This relationship with Our Lady of Guadalupe promotes the culture of life, promotes the reality of immigrants -- not only from the South but immigrants in general -- and also the relationship of the Church and the Blessed Mother with the poor," Archbishop García-Siller said.
Bishop John P. Dolan of Phoenix shared that his diocese implemented a seven-year plan two years ago called "TILMA" to build a culture of evangelization leading up to the quincentennial.
"This is an excellent opportunity for us to invite people to take ownership of the call to evangelize," he said. "It would be good for us to put Our Lady Guadalupe out there and ask her to lead us in this mission toward a culture of effective and sustainable evangelization."
Recalling St. John Paul II's 1999 apostolic exhortation "Ecclesia in America," Bishop Cantú reflected on the description of Guadalupe as an "example of perfectly inculturated evangelization."
"Those are words that should echo in our hearts as we seek to evangelize our own churches in the United States."
