Basilica Shrine<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cThe heart of a good mother is always with their children,\u201d Father Obot said during the Mass, which was led by Auxiliary Bishop Efren V. Esmilla with numerous concelebrating priests and music joyously offered in numerous languages by Philadelphia\u2019s African Catholic Choir.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf our earthly mother can be so kind, generous, and so loving, what do you think about the mother of Jesus? The appearance of Our Lady is a reminder of Mary\u2019s maternal care and intercession.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new shrine commemorates the first apparition of the Blessed Mother in Africa approved by the Vatican. It happened on Nov. 28, 1981 in Kibeho, Rwanda, where Mary appeared to Alphonsine Mumureke as the \u201cMother of the Word.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our Lady of Kibeho would speak to Mumureke and two of her high school classmates in a series of apparitions over two years where she shared the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows and foretold a coming catastrophe.<\/p>\n
Thirteen years later, a wave of genocidal killings in Rwanda resulted in nearly 1 million people dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were not the goody-goody types. They were average, everyday girls, and the fact that Mary chose them is pretty much in line with some of the other apparitions,\u201d said Father Obot.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn\u2019t choose the ones you would naturally expect, but through them she wanted to give a message that really speaks about brotherhood, seeing each other as brothers and sisters, and especially in light of what was coming, the genocide that broke out in Rwanda.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Holy See and local bishops conducted a thorough investigation of the apparitions and approved them in 2001.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe message of Our Lady was an urgent appeal for repentance and conversion of heart. Then Our Lady said, repent, repent, repent, convert, while there is still time,\u201d said Father Obot.<\/p>\n
The new shrine, located southwest of the main entrance to the Basilica on Chelten Avenue, was a four-year project of faith and passion for Deacon James Mahoney, the shrine\u2019s associate director.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/535326086_1180178760812148_4490557517172078403_n.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
(Photo: The Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal)<\/p>\n
\u201cMary Jo (Timlin-Hoag, CEO of the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal) said it would be nice if we had an African-American image of Our Lady on the rosary walk. I prayed for about a year and a half. I said, \u2018God, really, do you really want me to do this?\u2019\u201d Deacon Mahoney said through tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to the Martin de Porres Foundation (in Wayne), who responded, \u2018We have a pot of money we can use for that.\u2019 I put them together with Mary Jo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The foundation focuses on supporting Black Catholics in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia through leadership and evangelization projects, said Cathy Hamilton, the organization\u2019s president.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided to do something permanent and lasting that would (show) Mary is the mother of the whole Church, and she\u2019s the mother of the world,\u201d said Hamilton. \u201cShe said, you\u2019re all my children. And that\u2019s how she feels about us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deacon Mahoney said he has had moments of powerful insight standing before the shrine since it was constructed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the image was first put there, I stood in front of it. I said, \u2018Thank you. Thank you for letting me work in your house,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stood right in front of her and said, \u2018Thank you,\u2019 and just started looking towards the day when we have this celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s celebration honored a shrine that presents the Catholic faith in a way that will mean more to the residents of the East Germantown neighborhood and vicinity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur neighborhood is probably 75 percent African American, yet most of our statues are pretty European-looking,\u201d said Vincentian Father John Kettleberger, rector of the Basilica Shrine.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have a statue of Our Lady with color speaks to the neighborhood. That Mary is one of us, all of us; and different cultures, different backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverywhere she went, she dressed to look like the people she was going to appear to because she wanted them comfortable when she spoke with them,\u201d said JoAnn Savoy, who has dedicated herself to Our Lady of Kibeho.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery often, African American stories aren\u2019t told. Like Jesus says, it has to be up to us to share the Gospel, and that is part of the Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like this opens the door literally within the neighborhood for people to recognize a part of themselves within the Blessed Mother,\u201d said Hamilton. \u201cThey can recognize the Blessed Mother and the Lord within themselves in that kind of an encounter that perhaps they didn\u2019t perceive they could have before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe bring all these different African communities together,\u201d said Deacon Mahoney.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the people, all of her children there are thanking our Blessed Mother for being so good to us, for leading us to her son Jesus, for never forsaking us, always holding us.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/JDM_5601-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
A plaque beneath the statue of Our Lady of Kibeho at the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. (Photo by Joseph Marchetti)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jay Sorgi \u2022 Posted August 25, 2025 \u201cCan you feel the presence of our mother, Mary?\u201d asked…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":174775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[99417,99418,5229,99419,99420,99421,99422,99423,99424,99425,99426,19494,99427,99428,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,99429],"class_list":{"0":"post-174774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-african-catholic-choir","9":"tag-alphonsine-mumureke","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-basilica-shrine-of-our-lady-of-the-miraculous-medal","12":"tag-bishop-efren-esmilla","13":"tag-black-catholic-community","14":"tag-catholic-shrine-dedication","15":"tag-central-association-of-the-miraculous-medal","16":"tag-deacon-james-mahoney","17":"tag-east-germantown-philadelphia","18":"tag-father-patrick-obot","19":"tag-jay-sorgi","20":"tag-martin-de-porres-foundation","21":"tag-our-lady-of-kibeho","22":"tag-pa","23":"tag-pennsylvania","24":"tag-philadelphia","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa","31":"tag-vincentian-fathers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}