The day began with a morning prayer at 6 a.m. with about 75 people at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in San Bernardino. The pilgrims, each traveling in their own cars by themselves or in groups, proceeded to Holy Family Church in Hesperia where nearly 250 people gathered for Mass.
The group grew even larger at St. Catherine of Alexandria Church in Riverside where about 1,000 people showed up for a prayer service and pilgrims were invited to experience the Stations of Mercy and labyrinth set up on the church’s property across the street.
“We were expecting a few hundred people,” said Marty Swanson, a parishioner at St. Catherine, Riverside, where he and his wife are liturgical coordinators. “We probably got about 1,000 people come through the Holy Door. We had every pew filled, including the pews in the choir loft and the two side chapels for families. We are set up for 750 to 800 people and there were people standing along the sides of the church. It was truly an awesome experience.”
Several of the faithful arrived from neighboring parishes to join in the celebration at St. Catherine’s.
“Parishioners from St. Anthony in Riverside walked from their parish carrying the image of the Blessed Virgin on their shoulders accompanied by their choir, guitars and singing,” reported Deacon John DeGano, who welcomed the pilgrims to his parish that morning. “Also, Corpus Christi Church in Corona had a couple of hundred people in their group. Someone said they walked from Tyler Mall.”
The group convened next at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Chino, where hundreds more met for lunch, a prayer service and the Sacrament of Reconciliation was offered. The penance services were offered in English, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
Next, the pilgrims proceeded to St. Catherine of Alexandria Church in Temecula where about 300 gathered for Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for an hour and praying of the Rosary. Later at 5:30 p.m., the group traveled to Sacred Heart Church in Palm Desert for evening Mass where about 1,000 people gathered for the celebration.
About 377 miles and 15 hours later, the pilgrimage ended at Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral in San Bernardino at 9 p.m., where nearly 250 gathered for evening prayer. According to Deacon Michael Jelley, who organized the event along with a team of deacons, about 50 pilgrims made the long journey to all seven Holy Doors. Julin Zermeno and his wife, Maria, parishioners of St. Mary Magdalene in Corona, were among those pilgrims.
“Our experience was so good with all the deacons to all the churches,” said Maria. “We learned so much from that day.”
Julin added: “It was a great spiritual experience. That day made me stronger in my faith. It was nothing but a peaceful day with the Holy Spirit. I will never forget that day.”
Dcn. Jelley started planning a pilgrimage in the summer as part of a personal spiritual commitment.
“I woke up one morning in June and thought, well I’m supposed to do a pilgrimage and maybe I’ll do it to one of the churches. Then I thought, maybe I’ll ask others if they’d like to join me. I thought that maybe eight or ten people would join me and they did, along with a few friends,” laughs Jelley.
He reached out to his fellow deacons to help with the pilgrimage and then thoughtfully selected the date in honor of St. Therese of Liseux.
“She was a very simple person who prayed for mercy and peace for people in need of it,” he explained. “October 1 is her Feast Day and I thought that would be the perfect day for the pilgrimage.”
Also included in the day of pilgrimage, Dcn. Jelley made sure that every church that the pilgrims stopped in offered an opportunity to meet the condition of plenary indulgence, which Pope Francis had stipulated as part of the Jubilee Year. He also created a “passport” for every pilgrim and they were encouraged to have it stamped at each church. He had rubber stamps of the diocesan logo made especially for the event so that the pilgrims could keep it as a memento of the special day. The passport became a popular part of the day that some of the parishes made more copies to pass out to everyone who participated.
“The most important aspect of the day was the fact that a lot of ordinary people participated,” said Jelley. “That was a great joy for me to see so many people. It was really inspiring to see them. I had a team of people put it all together and we had representatives from the diaconate community that helped in each of the vicariates.”
The unexpected large turnout has prompted a few people to ask for another pilgrimage. According to Jelley, he is thinking about another one at the right time.
Malie Hudson is a freelance writer based in Riverside.