A young girl from the World Villages for Children Girlstown in Chalco, Mexico, Zayra used to walk two hours to school daily, avoiding a human trafficker who had been stalking her. She spent her evenings with an alcoholic and abusive grandfather. Zayra prayed before an Our Lady of Guadalupe statue for relief. Then, the Sisters of Mary found her.
Kevin Wells remembers Zayra telling him the story, one of thousands he’d heard while visiting the mission, a school-orphanage started by Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz. When he went to Chalco to research a biography on Father Schwartz, affectionately known as “Father Al,” the mother superior of the Sisters of Mary at Girlstown told him, “If you want to get to know Father Al, I want you to start with these girls first.”
“Since then, I’ve spoken to hundreds worldwide about these nightmares,” said Wells, who wrote “Priest and Beggar: The Heroic Life of Venerable Aloysius Schwartz.”
Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey will lead a pilgrimage in the footsteps of Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz, titled “A Journey of Faith & Joy: Guadalupe to Girlstown,” in Chalco, Mexico, from Friday, Sept. 18 to Monday, Sept. 21. He will be accompanied by Kevin Wells and his brother, Father David Wells of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
All diocesan faithful are invited to join Bishop Sweeney and the Wells brothers on this life-changing pilgrimage, designed to help participants come to know the possible future U.S. saint who founded the Sisters of Mary. For more information about Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz and the experience of visiting Mexico, watch this episode of the bishop’s Beyond the Beacon podcast.
The pilgrims will also visit Girlstown, witnessing how the Sisters of Mary transform the lives of poor children through education, faith formation, and vocational skills training, and sending them out into the world as Christ-like missionaries. In 1989, Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and knew he would die soon. Yet he heard the Blessed Mother call him to found a Girlstown in Chalco and the Boystown in Guadalajara.
“Without exaggerating, I can tell you that everybody weeps,” Kevin Wells said of the upwards of 20 pilgrimages he has led to Chalco. “When people go down, they expect to see wounded girls. Instead, they see girls filled with joy, because the Sisters of Mary work all day long, from before dawn until they go to bed at night, mothering the wounds away, removing the nightmares and woundedness so the graces can come in.”
Also, pilgrims will attend daily Masses with Bishop Sweeney at the nearby Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe — the most visited Marian shrine in the world. There, they will see the miraculous Tilma of St. Juan Diego, an image created by God. They will climb Tepeyac Hill, where the Blessed Mother appeared and spoke to St. Juan Diego in 1531.
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The trip’s itinerary also includes several reflections on intimacy with Our Lady, prayer, sacrifice, and living the faith, led by Bishop Sweeney and the Wells brothers. Pilgrims will stay at a hotel near the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, allowing for easy access to these spiritual experiences.
The Cause for Canonization of Father Schwartz was opened by the Archdiocese of Manila, the Philippines, in 2003. Pope Francis recognized Father Al’s “heroic virtue,” declaring him “venerable” Jan. 22, 2015.
Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz established Girlstown orphanages, staffed by the Sisters of Mary, in several countries, serving more than 180,000. With Mary’s help, he raised hundreds of millions of dollars to build Boystowns, Girlstowns, hospitals, hospices, leprosaria, and schools worldwide, Kevin Wells said.
Born in 1930 in Washington, D.C., Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz was ordained a priest of the Society of the Auxiliaries of the Missions in Belgium in 1957. Here, he encountered Our Lady of the Poor, or Our Lady of Banneux. In 1964, while serving in post-war South Korea, he founded the Sisters of Mary.
Summing up Father Al’s character, Kevin Wells added, “Father Al didn’t care about his own comfort. He made a promise to Mary that he would do revolting things, hard things, if only she would give him the poorest of the poor.”
This selfless commitment continued in 1989, when Father Al traveled to Mexico despite having Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He heard that “many of the Mexicans were leaving the faith because of poverty,” Kevin Wells said. After visiting the Basilica Shrine, he began to serve Mary under the mantle of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Subsequently, Father Al returned to the Philippines, where he had been incardinated as a priest, and died on March 16, 1992.
The seeds for the pilgrimage in September first germinated when Bishop Sweeney discovered Father Al’s story, reading “Priest and Beggar.” A friend of Kevin Wells forwarded him a column the bishop wrote about Father Al. Wells offered to bring the bishop to Chalco to visit, which they did with 14 men in 2024. The bishop met the Girlstown community.
“They fell in love with Bishop Sweeney because they saw his joy, and they saw that he was a good priest. He fell in love with the mission and wanted to go back, so he reached out, and we decided to do it again,” Kevin Wells said.
Pilgrimage prices start at $1,799 per person, excluding travel expenses. For more information, visit worldvillages.org/events/sweeney-wells. Register online by Aug. 18.
Walk possible saint’s footsteps on the Mexican pilgrimage with bishop #Catholic –
A young girl from the World Villages for Children Girlstown in Chalco, Mexico, Zayra used to walk two hours to school daily, avoiding a human trafficker who had been stalking her. She spent her evenings with an alcoholic and abusive grandfather. Zayra prayed before an Our Lady of Guadalupe statue for relief. Then, the Sisters of Mary found her.
Kevin Wells remembers Zayra telling him the story, one of thousands he’d heard while visiting the mission, a school-orphanage started by Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz. When he went to Chalco to research a biography on Father Schwartz, affectionately known as “Father Al,” the mother superior of the Sisters of Mary at Girlstown told him, “If you want to get to know Father Al, I want you to start with these girls first.”
“Since then, I’ve spoken to hundreds worldwide about these nightmares,” said Wells, who wrote “Priest and Beggar: The Heroic Life of Venerable Aloysius Schwartz.”
Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey will lead a pilgrimage in the footsteps of Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz, titled “A Journey of Faith & Joy: Guadalupe to Girlstown,” in Chalco, Mexico, from Friday, Sept. 18 to Monday, Sept. 21. He will be accompanied by Kevin Wells and his brother, Father David Wells of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
All diocesan faithful are invited to join Bishop Sweeney and the Wells brothers on this life-changing pilgrimage, designed to help participants come to know the possible future U.S. saint who founded the Sisters of Mary. For more information about Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz and the experience of visiting Mexico, watch this episode of the bishop’s Beyond the Beacon podcast.
The pilgrims will also visit Girlstown, witnessing how the Sisters of Mary transform the lives of poor children through education, faith formation, and vocational skills training, and sending them out into the world as Christ-like missionaries. In 1989, Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and knew he would die soon. Yet he heard the Blessed Mother call him to found a Girlstown in Chalco and the Boystown in Guadalajara.
“Without exaggerating, I can tell you that everybody weeps,” Kevin Wells said of the upwards of 20 pilgrimages he has led to Chalco. “When people go down, they expect to see wounded girls. Instead, they see girls filled with joy, because the Sisters of Mary work all day long, from before dawn until they go to bed at night, mothering the wounds away, removing the nightmares and woundedness so the graces can come in.”
Also, pilgrims will attend daily Masses with Bishop Sweeney at the nearby Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe — the most visited Marian shrine in the world. There, they will see the miraculous Tilma of St. Juan Diego, an image created by God. They will climb Tepeyac Hill, where the Blessed Mother appeared and spoke to St. Juan Diego in 1531.
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
The trip’s itinerary also includes several reflections on intimacy with Our Lady, prayer, sacrifice, and living the faith, led by Bishop Sweeney and the Wells brothers. Pilgrims will stay at a hotel near the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, allowing for easy access to these spiritual experiences.
The Cause for Canonization of Father Schwartz was opened by the Archdiocese of Manila, the Philippines, in 2003. Pope Francis recognized Father Al’s “heroic virtue,” declaring him “venerable” Jan. 22, 2015.
Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz established Girlstown orphanages, staffed by the Sisters of Mary, in several countries, serving more than 180,000. With Mary’s help, he raised hundreds of millions of dollars to build Boystowns, Girlstowns, hospitals, hospices, leprosaria, and schools worldwide, Kevin Wells said.
Born in 1930 in Washington, D.C., Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz was ordained a priest of the Society of the Auxiliaries of the Missions in Belgium in 1957. Here, he encountered Our Lady of the Poor, or Our Lady of Banneux. In 1964, while serving in post-war South Korea, he founded the Sisters of Mary.
Summing up Father Al’s character, Kevin Wells added, “Father Al didn’t care about his own comfort. He made a promise to Mary that he would do revolting things, hard things, if only she would give him the poorest of the poor.”
This selfless commitment continued in 1989, when Father Al traveled to Mexico despite having Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He heard that “many of the Mexicans were leaving the faith because of poverty,” Kevin Wells said. After visiting the Basilica Shrine, he began to serve Mary under the mantle of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Subsequently, Father Al returned to the Philippines, where he had been incardinated as a priest, and died on March 16, 1992.
The seeds for the pilgrimage in September first germinated when Bishop Sweeney discovered Father Al’s story, reading “Priest and Beggar.” A friend of Kevin Wells forwarded him a column the bishop wrote about Father Al. Wells offered to bring the bishop to Chalco to visit, which they did with 14 men in 2024. The bishop met the Girlstown community.
“They fell in love with Bishop Sweeney because they saw his joy, and they saw that he was a good priest. He fell in love with the mission and wanted to go back, so he reached out, and we decided to do it again,” Kevin Wells said.
Pilgrimage prices start at $1,799 per person, excluding travel expenses. For more information, visit worldvillages.org/events/sweeney-wells. Register online by Aug. 18.