Lancaster Parishioner Documents Healing Pilgrimage in ‘Return to Lourdes’ Film

The pilgrimage was sponsored by the Order of Malta Western Association, and departed from Los Angeles, featuring travelers in search of healing from the West Coast and Hawaii. The sick people who make the pilgrimage are called “malades,” from the French for “sick.” The trip featured in “Return to Lourdes” included 50 malades, 50 caretakers (usually friends or family) and 250 volunteers, including Order of Malta members (Knights or Dames), nurses, doctors and chaplains.

Scudner had been to Lourdes about a dozen times before the documentary trip, for which he served as producer. His son Evan, the primary cinematographer, had been there five times. Peter Scudner said their prior experience in Lourdes allowed them to focus on making an authentic documentary. But his role was first and foremost as a Knight in the Order of Malta, to serve the malades.

Scudner said every trip to Lourdes is different depending on the malades, and this one had the added complication of navigating COVID. But he said there is also a constant to the pilgrimages.

“When you go to Lourdes, the first time you’re there and every time after that, it feels like you’re home,” he said. “People come in search of healing. Although some come seeking physical healing, all come seeking some spiritual healing,” he said.

During the weeklong pilgrimage, the malades and their caregivers spend time in prayer and other spiritual activities. Some of these were different during COVID, but Scudner said one such difference may have actually been for the better. Traditionally, malades have stepped into the baths of the spring water at the site, but they have done so segregated by gender. That meant that in many cases, malades and their caregivers did not experience the ritual together. Under COVID protocol, as seen in the film, the water was poured from a pitcher so that malades and their caregivers could wash their hands or face, or drink from it side-by-side. Scudner said it’s a COVID modification that he feels may actually be closer to what the Blessed Mother instructed St. Bernadette to do. In the documentary, malade Colleen Gates, who suffers from a rare type of cancer, made the trip with her caregiver daughter and her husband, who was the caregiver for her adolescent son who also travelled as a malade, diagnosed with a brain tumor at 10 months old. Gates said the shared experience of being at Lourdes was overwhelming and deeply touching.

“When you’re sharing suffering together, you’re sharing that suffering and lightening the burden of that suffering for each other,” she said.

Ben Bongers had been to Lourdes before as a companion but is featured in the documentary as a malade. A former opera singer, Bongers experienced health issues briefly described in the documentary that make his pilgrimage particularly poignant.

“This is a place of healing and it’s not just physical healing. It’s healing mentally. It’s healing in the heart,” he said.

Scudner said the Order of Malta hopes to return to Lourdes this year so they can continue their mission. He said the Lancaster region has sponsored dozens of malades over the last decade and they hold an annual reunion and special Mass.

Scudner, a member of St. John Neumann Parish in Lancaster, said the Lancaster Region of the Order of Malta has approximately 30 members. Other Pennsylvania regions are in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Worldwide, the order has some 13,500 members, about 3,500 of whom are in the United States. The Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes on February 11.