This September, thousands of pilgrims will gather at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to pray the Rosary together. Helping lead that day of prayer will be Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P., who will serve as the principal preacher for the 2026 Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage.

Ordained to the priesthood in 1986 for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, Fr. Cameron has spent decades preaching, teaching, and helping Catholics grow in their love for Christ. From 1998 to 2018, he served as the founding editor-in-chief of Magnificat, the monthly worship companion that has helped countless Catholics enter more deeply into the Mass and the daily prayer of the Church. Today, he holds the Carl J. Peter Chair of Homiletics at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he forms seminarians in the art of preaching the Gospel, and he also teaches at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum). In 2022, he published Mysteries of the Virgin Mary: Living Our Lady’s Graces (Cluny Media).

Ahead of the pilgrimage, we asked Fr. Cameron about the Rosary, Our Lady, and what he hopes pilgrims will take with them from this year’s day of prayer.

Q: What was your first thought when you were asked to serve as principal preacher for this year’s Pilgrimage?

A: I was very honored and delighted to be asked to serve as principal preacher for this year’s Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage. I consider the Pilgrimage — the brilliant idea of some of the younger friars of the Province of St. Joseph — to be an inspired and much needed apostolate, an occasion of many graces. I have a deep personal love for the Rosary, and it will be a joy to spend a day with others who share a similar love and devotion to the Rosary.

Q: Is there one mystery of the Rosary you find yourself returning to most, and why?

A: The one mystery of the Rosary I find myself returning to in a special way is the fifth Glorious Mystery: The Crowning of Our Lady Queen of Heaven. For me, it is the Rosary within the Rosary. I’m struck by something Pope St. John Paul II wrote: “In the recitation of the rosary, we enter into contact with the memories of Mary.” These memories are not nostalgic remembering or recalling — they are a way of reactivating. Memory makes present now works that God has already accomplished. Memory sheds light on what is remembered so that it acquires a deeper meaning. Which is why St. John Paul II said that “the memories of Jesus impressed upon Mary’s heart were to be the ‘rosary’ which Our Lady recited uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life.” The Coronation, in its way, is the consummation of all the saving events of the Redemption, in which the Mother of God plays an instrumental role. At the Coronation, the Blessed Virgin Mary relives the memory of all the mysteries of her Son’s life, death, and Resurrection such that they become present and active and ever more meaningful — glorifying Our Lady’s life in heaven with joy beyond imagining, and anointing anyone on earth eager to live Mary’s memories with her.

Q: What has Mary taught you personally, as a priest?

A: The Blessed Virgin Mary has taught me that whenever we go to Mary in prayer, she gives us Jesus, and that there are many things in life that cannot come to be — nor are they meant to — without Mary’s maternal mediation. As Mother of God, Our Lady plays a personal role in assisting us with our misfortunes, in freeing us from evils, in relieving our sorrows, and in interceding for us in the struggles that burden us. Mary has taught me that I can trust in her faithfulness and lean on her strength. As the Dominican mystic Blessed Henry Suso prayed, “Thinking of you, Mother, recalling you, my spirit comes alive again as if out of the deepest darkness.” Mary has taught me that it is possible to achieve intimate union with our Lord, as St. Louis de Montfort remarked, by establishing a deep union with the Blessed Virgin and a great dependence on her help. United with Mary, it becomes possible to love Jesus the way that Jesus deserves to be loved.

Q: What would you want a pilgrim walking into the Basilica that morning, perhaps someone who has never prayed a full Rosary before, to know before the day begins?

A: I would want a pilgrim walking into the Basilica to know that it is Jesus Christ himself who has drawn that person to this place — that God has taken the initiative to share Himself with the pilgrim, eager to be close to the pilgrim — that this day is a gift from heaven — that the Blessed Mother is loving the pilgrim with a great tenderness and compassion and joy — that the trust and sacrifice the pilgrim shows just by being present at the Pilgrimage will be richly rewarded with many graces and blessings — that taking a risk to be a pilgrim and begin a new life with the Rosary is reason for tremendous hope in the mercy and generosity of God in the days and years to follow.

We are grateful for Fr. Cameron’s yes, and we look forward to joining him on September 26 for the 2026 Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage.