Why these men walked 24 miles to the ‘Rome of the Midwest’
- Published
It can be hard to find time for silent reflection in today's bustling modern society. But a group of men this past weekend found peace and silence in an unlikely place – on the sidewalks and shoulders of busy roads leading into the heart of a Midwestern metropolis.
The annual Joseph Challenge Pilgrimage, held this year May 4-5 in St. Louis, Missouri, brought together men ranging from their 20s to their 60s who were looking for both a physical challenge and spiritual rejuvenation.
Along the way, the pilgrims would encounter four Catholic churches dedicated to St. Joseph – appropriate, considering the Church celebrated the feast of St. Joseph the Worker the previous Wednesday.
The challenge
The idea was to start at a parish in Manchester, a western St. Louis suburb, and trek 24 miles along sidewalks, paths, through parks, and occasionally on road shoulders all the way to downtown St. Louis.
The men – around 20 total – gathered at St. Joseph Church and began their walk around 10 a.m. Saturday. They stopped for lunch in a park, and again for Mass at the Carmel of St. Joseph, a monastery of discalced Carmelite nuns, around 3:30 p.m.
In addition to carrying a yellow and white Vatican flag, the men took turns carrying a large wooden cross along with them.
"The experience of having carried a cross, basically a nailed together 2x4 cross that I'm sure doesn't weigh as much as Christ's cross, but carrying that a mile and a half was a very challenging and yet rewarding experience," said Patrick Swackhammer, 45.
After Mass at the monastery, the group continued for several more miles before reaching the place of the night's rest – St. Joseph's in Clayton, Missouri. Total distance walked the first day: approximately 14 miles.
The men had dinner, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and a holy hour including a Latin rosary, followed by fellowship and a few beers before settling into their sleeping bags on the tile floor of the church basement for the night.
Origins
"This was kind of my crazy idea several years ago," said Gabe Jones, 30, one of the two main organizers of the pilgrimage.
Jones said he had been on pilgrimages and men's retreats in the past that usually involved an invitation for men to drive to and meet at a sacred destination, rather than walking to it. To him, driving straight to a pilgrimage site defeated the purpose; it removed the physical hardship involved in actually getting to the site.
"A pilgrimage is: you walk, and you walk, and you walk, and you walk, and you get to this beautiful church, and you fall on your knees when you get there. That's a pilgrimage," he said.
The United States does not have the same kind of culture of pilgrimage that Europe has, he said, partly because the U.S. as a country is much younger than the European continent, and thus is built primarily around the automobile.
Read articleJones said the idea for the St. Joseph pilgrimage started as "just a bunch of guys getting together."
The first year, 2015, a handful of guys expressed interest in the challenge, but nearly all of them canceled before it began or dropped out along the way for various reasons – a tweaked back, other plans for the weekend, a torn ACL – until, by the end, the only two pilgrims left were Jones and the priest that had come with him.
Jones said he was disappointed in the turnout the first year, but came to understand that the idea of walking 24 miles over a weekend and being away from your family is perhaps a bigger ask than he thought.
"What I learned from that first year is that material success and immediately seeing the fruits of our labor are not the most important thing," Jones said.
"Just do the thing that you're called to do, and if it's the right thing then there will be good fruit. And it may not be right away, heck, it may not be in your lifetime. But just stick to it, and if God's calling you to that, do it."
The next year, 2016, they had more like 40 guys sign up, with around 38 walking at any one time, Jones said. The pilgrims were coming from a whole range of places, physically and spiritually.
But the feeling of being the same boat and taking on the same physical challenge fostered a sense of brotherhood among the men.
"As a convert to the Catholic faith, the concept of a pilgrimage is something new, it's something I had to embrace along with embracing all the other unique aspects of the Catholic faith," second-year participant Russell Yount reflected.
"But it's an idea that resonates with me, of having a goal and pursuing it."
The importance of silence
Walking twenty-plus miles through an urban jungle may not sound like the most peaceful way to spend a weekend. But the organizers made sure that despite the constant hum of traffic next to the marching group of men, there were times when quiet contemplation was encouraged.
During some stretches of the route, the men were encouraged to socialize and get to know one another. During other sections, the organizers led rosaries via megaphone.
At other points, the men were encouraged simply to walk in silence, their quiet reverie interrupted only occasionally by drivers in passing cars pipping their horns in support.