A Pilgrimage of People

I began writing this post before heading off to the International Eucharistic Congress, in light of my community's recent pilgrimage to some of the wonder of Ireland's holy places. Now, having returned from the IEC, I'm finishing up this reflection to segue into a series of posts I hope to begin imminently, reflecting on the many workshops and talks I attended while in Dublin with my Christian brothers and sisters from literally all over the world...

Last week, my community-mates and I were given the parish's blessing to go off on a short pilgrimage together. We chose to head west to Co. Mayo, Ireland, to visit Knock and climb Croagh Patrick.

Knock is a normal parish in the middle of Mayo, but its renown changed forever in 1879. In August of that year, Mary appeared to 15 locals from the parish, coming to them in an apparition on the back wall of the parish church, between Sts. Joseph and John the Baptist, next to an altar with a lamb atop it surrounded by angels. Today, that back wall of the church has been enclosed in a new chapel with statues on the wall to commemorate the appearance by Our Lady of Knock and these saints. The grounds of Knock also include a basilica church, an Adoration chapel, an amazing Chapel of Reconciliation where over 40 confession rooms receive penitential pilgrims, and two wonderful Stations of the Cross walks, both outside. It is an authentic, Church-endorsed apparition site with amazing devotion and steady streams of pilgrims.

Croagh Patrick is a 2500-foot mountain near the coastline of Ireland and the town of Westport. A statue of St. Patrick blesses pilgrims at the foot of the trail that turns from dirt and grass to loose rocks and the climb steepens nearing the peak of the pilgrimage hike. Legend has it that Patrick climbed the mountain to fast on its summit for forty days, and today, there is "the bed of Patrick," a small rectangle of land where pilgrims can pray for his intercession on the spot where he might have rested. Pilgrims of varying degrees of piety and intentionality hike the trails to the summit in the steps of many who have gone before them, including, perhaps, the patron saint of Ireland.

Long story, short: those are just two of many pilgrimages that exist in Ireland, in Europe, and in the world. Part of the rich heritage and tradition of our Catholic Church is the many pilgrimages that are out there. They come in many different varieties, though Marian shrines and hikes/walks are two most common forms I've come across.

One of the beautiful aspects of a pilgrimage is how it enables its participants (I like using that word here because of how active and intentional pilgrimage can and should be) to realize their identity as part of someone (JESUS!) and something (the Church!) bigger than themselves.

Making the journey to any old destination always involves following in the footsteps of many others, many of whom shared their experience through personal stories, writing travel guides, or posting to travel sites with tips for your travels. The difference with pilgrimage - which any vacation can be, to the degree you might decide to make it - is that these shared insights go beyond simple message boards and guidebooks; they are inherently spiritual experiences, journeys meant to be centered more intentionally on God, using the intentionality of making a journey to manifest one's desire to move toward God in a special way.

Whether you make the trip as an individual or with others, you are joining in communion with all the pilgrims who have preceded you and those who will come after you by virtue of the One Lord Jesus Christ who unites all of you. Eucharist is and should be a central part of pilgrimage, whether as part of the preparation, the experience, or the culmination of the pilgrimage. The Eucharist makes maximally present the mystical bond that unites all believers and all pilgrims in Christ. To finish my walk on the Camino de Santiago, I went to a grand All Saints Day mass at the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, which began with the swinging of the enormous botafumeiro thurable; on the flip side, it can be as simple as the small gathering we were invited to my a priest at the Fr. Peyton Memorial Centre in Attymass, Co. Mayo, where we joined a small group of a dozen pilgrims for mass in a little oratory.

We all walk these pilgrim paths in search of something, turning simple tourism and vacation into renewing and regrounding searches for Christ in our lives, finding Christ in the experience of communion with our fellow pilgrims, whether friends or strangers, and with Christ Himself through our community, our prayer, and the Eucharist.

Last night, I left Dublin, having spent three days at the 50th International Eucharistic Congress, the theme of which was The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with One Another. It was a beautiful experience because of how wonderfully that theme was enfleshed comprehensively through the talks, the masses, and the Congress as a whole.

In this case, the pilgrimage had almost nothing to do with the place or what was physically there - no apparition, no mountain, no pilgrim trail, no rich tradition tied to the grounds of the Royal Dublin Society. This time, the pilgrimage's magnitude was based entirely on people, people from all over our universal church answering the call to gather and share dynamically in the richness of the Eucharist. I think I'll share two small stories rather than attempt to boil down the experience to a few futile paragraphs.

Among the 120+ countries represented, I saw a group of women from Zimbabwe. They caught my eye especially because they had beautiful dresses and headwear made with patterns of the IEC2012 logo and bible quotes and sayings all over. Tuesday night, I found my seat in a not-yet-crowded hall for a talk on the renewal of marriage through Eucharist, choosing a seat in front where I could stretch out. As the room became half-full, a woman came into my peripheral vision, moving in to become the 2nd person in this near-empty row, saying smilingly, "You need someone to sit next to you?"

We made some small-talk; I fetched her the handout for the talk that she had missed on her way in; and, we talked a bit about our homelands and marriage. Her name was Sindisiwe (like Cindy-Sue-way), and she was lovely with her English and taking notes in very neat handwriting. After the talk, she asked me what state I was from. When I told her "Illinois," she didn't seem to recognize it, so I added, "Chicago - a big city." I could tell it was one of those questions asked in large part so to give the asker the chance to share her own answer. She replied, "My son's in Philadelphia." I told her I'd be visiting there in a few weeks to see friends and family. Without missing a beat, having instant trust in me, she invitold (a word invented to combine invitation and being told) me to bring her son a gift, which I was happy to agree to - she gave me his name and e-mail address and wanted to give his phone number, too, but her phone had disappeared. She had bought a bunch of keepsake rosaries for family and friends, and she wanted Sibanda to have one, too.

He moved to the US for work 7 years ago, and they have not been able to see each other since then. She gave me her e-mail, too, so she could get in touch with me to give me his phone number when she got back to Zimbabwe. So now, when I go to Philadelphia, I'm going to visit a best friend, see my aunt and uncle, travel on to Scranton to see another friend, and serve as a pilgrim courier to connect a loving mother with her dear son through a simple holy gift.

One more for the road: I went to a talk on Wednesday morning about the permanent deaconate, something that I - and many in the Church - don't understand well enough, and actually, many countries don't even have actively. During the talk, I spoke with a nearby man during a conversation break who is in formation for the deaconate. It became clear that many men in the room, scattered around lay men and women and some priests, were either deacons already, in formation for the deaconate, or discerning that vocation. After the formal talk ended, we had ample time for question-and-answer.

People were bringing up great things and really adding depth to what we were learning that morning, making this talk the one during which I took the most notes by far. Toward the end, a man in clerical blacks (not a rare sight at all at the IEC) asked for the mic. He stood up and introduced himself as Archbishop Napier of Durban, South Africa. He then proceeded to make some wonderful comments, including his personal involvement, at least once a year, in interviewing deacons and their wives on their status in progressing through the six-year formation, as well as stressing that deacons must be affirmed for the duties they do rather than the things they don't do, upholding them as an important distinct ministry of vocational call rather than an afterthought to priests.

I was struck my his insights - he clearly is a learned and wise man - but I was more struck by his humility. He took a seat in the middle of everyone else, toward the back, and blended right in as one of many pilgrims just coming to partake in the dialogue. Granted, he had the advantage of relative anonymity since he is so far from his home turf, but he had a quiet approach to his participation there, choosing a way of being that aimed to simply share the experience. I had another moment of appreciation for the humility of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, who along with the Papal Legate and a few other prominent bishops, sat up front, alongside Br. Alois of Taize, during an evening Taize prayer service in the Youth Space - Archbishop Martin and the others sat patiently and quietly as the 1,000ish people processed forward for at least half an hour to reverence a Taize cross as the music circled around the prayer. As I made my way toward the cross, I caught the Archbishop's eye and saw in his gaze such patience as he was clearly in gentle awe at the devotion that was unfolding so steadily.

The global reach, the humility, and the faithful exchange was all around, from simple pilgrims seeking just an opportunity to have to those committed and appointed shepherds of this flock. I hope you'll take a stroll with me in the coming days and weeks as I try to share a portion of the insights I found during my time at IEC2012.