Being on a pilgrimage, someone said, would change you inside. The pilgrimage…even in the few segments I have been able to participate in, have changed me.
Out-of-towners decided to join the pilgrimage by walking to St. James Cathedral from the Whole Foods at Denny and Westlake. Therese called at the precise moment I was trying to figure out how to arrange such an additional stop. Then on Wednesday, I was in a panic about the map and the route…and I saw JL from the cathedral…and I knew we were in safe hands.
There were about 41 people who joined together—almost magically—there on Denny. Middle school students from Kirkland (members of the Youth Migrant Project), whom we had met on Day 3, were there with some students from Seattle U and a few people who had been at a conference for Salvadorian Immigrants. The walk was a little more than a mile, but up some very hilly hills!
Mass at the Cathedral included a blessing on the pilgrims from the priest…and a deeply resounding hallelujah (and other music as well)…stunning in its beauty because of the acoustics of the Cathedral. It made me appreciate the skill and talent of architects and designers all over again.
A mile or so more to St. Mary’s Church….along the streets of Seattle. By this time we were 60 people and another 25 welcomed us. Rita and her crew at St. Mary’s had assured me they could accommodate any size crowd…and they did. The potluck included a cilantro stew from Peru, guacamole, bean casseroles, spiced peaches and wonderful, wonderful hamburgers!
And then the gathering after the meal occurred spontaneously! We built on an idea that we all introduce ourselves, where we were from and why we were interested in the pilgrimage…to having a member of each group speak. I didn’t take notes, but remember One America was there, an Indonesian Lutheran group, The Sanctuary Church, St. Mary’s staff and members, Cathedral staff and parishioners, the Unitarian Fellowship, St. John Vianney in Kirkland, Assumption and Sacred Heart from Bellingham, and a number graduates of JustFaith, and two immigrants who spoke so eloquently: one reminded us that immigrants from Mexico would be glad to go home regularly if they could come back here to work and another talked about the disruption to the LOVE of family that current laws create.
Some people have wondered about the “success” of the pilgrimage when we sometimes have just one or two people actually walking from church to church. The pilgrimage is a phenomenon that is part of the process of opening people’s hearts and minds to the broken-ness of a system we are paying mega-bucks in taxes for. The blog gets hundreds of hits a day; parishioners come together to cook and pray; priests have joined us and asked their parishioners to walk. Articles have been written in newspapers; websites have taken and posted our information. People have decided to take a day off work to join us…dialogue has begun on what’s next.
The Pilgrimage for Comprehensive Immigration Reform will end on Saturday August 15. But the journey will continue for months…even years. We have been praying for a miracle…little miracles have occurred along the way. The big one, well…in its own time….
posted by Lee
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