Written by Michael Downs, director of justice and kinship, Bishop O’Dowd High School, Diocese of Oakland, [email protected]
When I worked for the University of Notre Dame many years ago, I had the privilege of leading pilgrimages for college students who were studying abroad. We journeyed together to some of Europe’s most sacred sites: Croagh Patrick and Glendalough in Ireland, Avila in France, Santiago De Compostela in Spain, Rome and Assisi in Italy. The leather case where I kept my well-used passport during those years had a simple mantra that I tried to instill in my students, then and now: “The tourist demands. The pilgrim gives thanks.”
With an attitude of gratitude, we acknowledge 2025 as an auspicious year to re-engage the ancient Catholic practice of pilgrimage, as we celebrate both a Jubilee Year (with the theme of “Pilgrims of Hope”), and the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ ground-breaking encyclical which calls us now more than ever to hear the “cry of the earth” and the “cry of the poor.”
Pope Francis connects pilgrimage and planet in a letter to the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization for the Jubilee Year:
In the realization that all of us are pilgrims on this earth, which the Lord has charged us to till and keep (cf. Gen 2:15), may we never fail, in the course of our sojourn, to contemplate the beauty of creation and care for our common home. It is my hope that the coming Jubilee Year will be celebrated and experienced with this intention too. Growing numbers of men and women, including many young people and children, have come to realize that care for creation is an essential expression of our faith in God and our obedience to his will.
When I moved back to the U.S. after those years as a pilgrim abroad, a dear friend gave me a t-shirt that read, “The Holy Land is everywhere.” He said that if my last chapter of life had been about “getting there,” this chapter would be about “being here.” Though some lucky pilgrims will travel far this year to visit the great sites of our faith, all of us can be “pilgrims of hope” in our own backyard sections of this precious planet (and with smaller carbon footprints!). For example, to make the Holy Year pilgrimage indulgence available to as many people as possible, certain churches and chapels in the various regions are “Designated Pilgrimage Sites.”
But if we can find “God in all things,” pilgrimages don’t just have to lead to shrines. Where are the sacred walks you can take as a “pilgrim of hope” this year? In my own recent experience as a teacher and administrator at Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, here are a few examples of bringing the spirit of pilgrimage to intersect with the message of Laudato Si’ in our community:
Pilgrimage as School Neighborhood Walk
A nearby parish school called Corpus Christi took the opportunity to teach the students by doing an all-school walk through the neighborhood on the designated day. After lessons in class about relevant vocabulary (i.e. jubilee, pilgrimage, monstrance, etc.), younger students and older students were assigned to be pilgrimage partners, and all were encouraged to look for the symbols of spring in the neighborhood which represent hope and renewal. The one mile walk through the surrounding neighborhood, culminated at the church, where students entered and experienced the adoration for the first time as a school community.
Pilgrimage as Faculty Formation
To kick off the new semester, our faculty and staff embarked on pilgrimages across local regional parks to reflect, reconnect and renew our sense of purpose as educators. These pilgrimages, led by faculty who integrated lessons in ecology and spirituality, reminded us of the many blessings around us and our sacred duty to shape the lives of our students, and steward the land upon which we teach and learn.
Pilgrimage as Local or State-Level Advocacy
500 Catholics from across California will participate in a prayerful journey to the state capitol in Sacramento to lift up Care for Creation as a central Catholic issue. We are led by youth, centering their leadership as prophetic pilgrims of hope and seeking to make a direct impact on state legislation with the hope that other states will take similar action during this 10th anniversary year of Laudato Si’.
Pilgrimage as Labyrinth
For those without the time or space to venture externally on pilgrimage, consider the labyrinth as a metaphor for the journey of life that works as a localized concentrated pilgrimage. Our campus ministry provides both “finger labyrinths” for in-class experiences and a roll-out walking labyrinth (which can be purchased or rented) that we lay out in the chapel for special classes and occasions.
Pilgrimage as Commitment to Integral Ecology
Both O’Dowd and Corpus Christi, along with about a dozen other schools from our diocese, have begun a seven-year pilgrimage toward whole-school integral ecology, one sustainable step at a time, by enrolling in the Laudato Si’ Action Platform.
As we celebrate this dual celebration of a Jubilee Year and Laudato Si’, may we draw inspiration for our journey from the conclusion of that timeless letter about our Common Home (paragraph 244):
“In union with all creatures, we journey through this land seeking God… Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.”
Dive deeper into this idea and more with Michael Downs
