Borderzine (https://borderzine.com/tag/pilgrimage/)
EL PASO — Lucille Maya remembers when her father carried her infant brother up Mt. Cristo Rey to ask for a miracle. Her brother was born with a birth defect and doctors told her family that he would never be able to walk, but soon after her father’s pilgrimage her little brother walked for the first time. “I do this for my faith.” said Maya, 73, who has been coming to Mt. Cristo Rey all her life.
WASHINGTON – For the members of the Diocese of Evansville, Ind., a trip to Washington should have been a simple 14-hour drive. A broken-down bus and 17 hours later, the trip turned into an excursion as they made their way to the capital for the annual March for Life. “It has been a year in the making. We’ve got about 89,000 Catholics in our diocese, and to bring about 350 youth, young adults and chaperons with us is huge,” co-coordinator Emily Snipes said. “We’ve had to learn a lot of patience and endure a few things, but it has made this pilgrimage more successful.”
This is the second year in a row Snipes, family life-diocesan respect-life coordinator for Evansville, and fellow coordinator Steve Dabrowski, director of youth and young adult ministry of Evansville, planned a trip to protest the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the United States.
MOUNT CRISTO REY, N.M. – On the narrow edge of a cliff more than 2,000 feet up Mount Cristo Rey, the march came to a sudden halt. The slight morning chill of fall settling in the desert became more apparent, blowing past a slow procession ambling in both directions. The line of trekkers had been backed up all the way to the 11th Station of the Cross: Jesus is nailed to the cross. This was truly a pilgrim’s Passion play. On the morning of October 31, an estimated 30,000 followers celebrated the Feast of Cristo Rey, an annual pilgrimage and Mass at Mount Cristo Rey. The approximately five mile procession to the top of the 4,675-feet-high peak brought young and old throughout the border region together for different personal reasons but united in faith.
EL PASO, Texas — Andre Karam carried the six-foot wooden cross for more than four miles up Mount Cristo Rey on Good Friday to relive the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He had trudged up this mountain every year for the past 35 years, but this was the first time he carried a cross on his back. It took him five weeks to finish it in faint white brushstrokes covering the ornamental details. A rope and round metal plates ran down the longest plank of the cross. “They represent the five continents. One, two, three, four, five,” he said as he touched each plate.
It is faith that leads hundreds of Mexicans from the state of Sonora to walk 50 or more miles each October in a little-know yet significant religious pilgrimage from Nogales, Sonora to Magadalena, Sonora.