Road closings, remote parking for Guadalupe celebration

With as many as 100,000 people expected in Des Plaines Thursday and Friday, Dec. 11-12, for the overnight celebration honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe — many coming on foot — authorities are urging people to take note of road closings and parking plans.

The event, held at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the Maryville campus, 1100 N. River Road, begins with a 6 p.m. Thursday Mass. It ends with a closing Mass at 7 p.m. Friday.

Archbishop Blase J. Cupich will be the main celebrant at the 12:30 a.m. Mass on Friday, Dec. 12. Central Road between Wolf and River roads will be closed to vehicles late Thursday afternoon to accommodate great numbers of pilgrims walking to the shrine.

Shuttle buses to and from remote parking locations will run every few minutes between 4 p.m. Thursday and 5 p.m. Friday. Remote parking is at:

• Oakton Community College, 1600 E. Golf Road, Des Plaines.

• St. Emily Parish, 1400 E. Central Road, Mount Prospect.

• St. Chong Ha Sang Korean Catholic Mission, 675 Dursey Lane, Des Plaines.

• Northwest Assembly of God, 900 N. Wolf Road, Mount Prospect.

• Plaza Palwaukee, 664 Milwaukee Ave., Prospect Heights

Masses are offered every two to three hours in both the outdoor grotto and the gymnasium. The Sacrament of Reconciliation will also be available throughout the evening. Music and Mexican folkloric dances will be held in the gymnasium throughout Thursday evening.

The lighting of the traditional “Antorcha Guadalupana” or “Guadalupe Torch” will be done at 10 p.m. Thursday.

2014 marks the 482nd anniversary of the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who, according to Catholic tradition, appeared to a peasant outside present-day Mexico City in 1531. Today, the shrine in Des Plaines is the only place outside of the basilica in Mexico City where parishioners can fulfill their mandas, or promises to God.