from Fr.BloomStarting Aug. 1st a group of parishioners from Assumption parish in Bellingham are beginning a two-week Pilgrimage from their church to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detention Center in Tacoma: they are walking to pray for comprehensive immigration reform. As you know many faith traditions include a pilgrimage as a form of prayer. Although most pilgrimages are to sites associated with prophets, saints or important events, some pilgrimages have also had the goal of addressing conflicts, as when Francis of Assisi journeyed to the Holy Land to seek peace in the midst of the Crusades.The issue of immigration is complex; enough so that our national Congressional leadership has had difficulty coming to agreement as to the best way to structure the rules and regulations associated with the processes of immigration. You yourself may have conflicting feelings about the issues; but by becoming a part of this event perhaps some of those conflicts will be resolved. We Catholics do have guidance re the issues with the pilgrims on this walk praying for legislation that incorporates all of the priorities articulated by the U.S. and Mexican Catholic Bishops in their letter "Strangers No Longer, Together on the Journey of Hope" and later statements by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Since this is such a vital issue for our parish, I encourage you to prayerfully read and reflect on our bishops' statements.In prayerful and spiritual solidarity with the pilgrims I'm asking you to join me (and Samwise) in walking with them on just one leg of their journey - from St. Mary's Catholic Church in Marysville to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Everett - this part of the Pilgrimage will take place on Saturday, Aug. 8th, starting at about 9am and is advertised to be about a 7.2 mile walk according to the event planners to take about 2 1/2 hours to walk - that's probably optimistic and anyone walking should probably plan for about a 4 hour hike. If you wish to join me I would ask that you either call or stop by the church office ... God bless you. Father Bloom
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