The Shrine of Fatima hosts the first seminar of “Meetings in the Basilica”

The Shrine of Fatima hosts the first seminar of “Meetings in the Basilica”

Basilica of Our Lady of The Rosary of Fatima welcomes Fr. Joaquim Ganhão on the 14th January. 

The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary will host this Sunday, the 14th of January, by 3:30 p.m. the first of five “Encounters in the Basilica”, scheduled until November 2018, within the program of the first year of the triennium 2017-2020, with the overall subject “Time of Grace and Mercy”.

Fr. Joaquim Ganhão will be the first speaker of the seminar with the subject “Memory and Gratefulness: faithful acts”.

Joaquim Ganhão was born in Pedrogão, municipality of Torres Novas. He joined the seminary in Lisbon and studied at the Portuguese Catholic University, where he concluded his degree in Theology and a post-graduation in Pastoral Theology. In 2000, he went to Rome to study Liturgy. He completed his master’s degree with the thesis on the Liturgical Movement in Portugal. He returned from Rome in 2005 and came to Santarém, where he was nominated parish priest of Santarém Cathedral by the Bishop Manuel Pelino, and later head of office in charge of the liturgy and celebrations. Today he is also director of the diocesan commission on cultural goods of the Church and responsible for the Diocesan Museum of Santarém. In 2017 he was the Liturgical Commission’s coordinator for the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis. 

The musical moment will be performed by the group Cantus Novus Ensemble, directed by António Lourenço Menezes.

There will be five sessions in total, the II Meeting in the Basilica will be on the 11th of March with the seminar “The ecclesial recognition of the apparitions of Fatima” by Fr. João Paulo Quelhas,  chaplain of the Shrine of Fatima, followed by, on the 3rd of June, the III Meeting on the subject “Grace and Mercy: the apparitions of Pontevedra and Tuy, by André Pereira. The IV Meeting in the Basilica will take place on the 9th of September and the main topic will be the Message of the Popes in Fatima, by Eduardo Caseiro. The V Meeting will take place on the 11th of November and will have as its theme “The pilgrim statue and its role on the proclamation of the message, by Marco Daniel Duarte. The speeches are always followed by a recital: Eva Braga Simões with Hugo Sanchez and Carmina Repas Gonçalves, on the 11th of March, the Group Coral Sol Nascente, under the direction of Vianey da Cruz, on the 3rd of June; João Santos (organist) on the 9th of September and the Eborae Musica Polyphonic Choir, under the direction of Eduardo Martins on the 11th of November.