Dear Friends,

Greetings and welcome to IACA.   We are getting ready for the 17^th Annual Pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to be held on September 6^th, 2014.  This year’s Pilgrimage theme is “Mother Mary, Our Intercessor in Heaven”.  The Pilgrimage Mass will be celebrated in English in the Latin Rite. The main celebrant for this Mass is Most Rev. Anil Joseph Thomas Couto, Archbishop of Delhi, India   I invite you to join us with your family, friends and neighbors to celebrate the feast of our Blessed Mother.

Every year, this event attracts thousands of devotees from various parts of our country.  This is a significant evidence of our Mother’s healing power and IACA’s progress, success of its activities and the visibility it has attracted over the past 21 years.  I am proud to say that we are now positioned to take IACA to a new level.

Over the years, IACA’s main mission has been to facilitate Catholics and others from the South Asian communities to come together to share their spiritual beliefs and ask the help of Our Lady of Good Health, Vailankanni to intercede for their needs, while also promoting and preserving unity among the diverse Catholic communities from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka which IACA represents.   This is accomplished through organizing devotional activities such as the Annual Pilgrimage, monthly first Saturday devotions, Mothers Day celebration, Christmas celebration and other special occasions; and supporting various charitable causes.

IACA is a Washington, DC based organization that is operated solely through the services of volunteers where all the costs of its activities are being supported through the generous contributions from our well wishers.   I want to thank you for your continued support and making IACA a special family of faith and ask you to make this year’s Annual Pilgrimage a memorable one with your presence and financial support on September 6, 2014.

Thank you and may God Bless you all.

Agnelo G. Gonsalves

President, IACA

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