Bernadet Albers holds faith conversation at Lourdesgrot in Driebergen

Bernadet Albers led a faith conversation at the Lourdes grotto in Driebergen on September 20. Albers, a volunteer who has visited Lourdes approximately 40 times, also helps organize and guide pilgrimages for the Archdiocese of Utrecht. She served as a travel leader for the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes earlier this year, which included 1,500 pilgrims.

Albers described Lourdes as a place for meeting oneself, others, and God, noting that the location is now more often identified as a place of hope and comfort rather than just a site of miracles.

The conversation was recorded at the grotto 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. Ed Smeets from the Diocese of Roermond celebrated the Eucharist following the conversation.