“Meet you at Desert Shores.”
This could be the mantra for Catholics from the dioceses of San Bernardino and San Diego who will be making Jubilee pilgrimages to the Salton Sea next month to highlight the Church’s urgent call to care for God’s creation.
The pilgrimages will take place the weekend of Nov. 15-16 with the San Bernardino group departing from Our Lady of Soledad parish in Coachella early Saturday morning on a 31-mile journey. The San Diego pilgrims will make a two-day walk starting from the community of El Centro. The two groups of pilgrims will conclude their journeys together with a 12 noon Sunday Mass and gathering at Christ the King Mission Church in Desert Shores, a small community in Imperial County on the west side of the Salton Sea.
A 318-square mile saltwater lake that straddles the two dioceses, the Salton Sea has been described in its history as both a natural wonder and, in recent decades, one of California’s worst ecological disasters. Toxic agricultural runoff water has flowed into the sea, and rapid evaporation has led to an increasingly exposed dry lakebed that produces toxic air quality in the area. These factors have led to widespread deaths of native fish and birds.
Marilyn Kott, Co-Chair of the Diocesan Laudato Si Committee, is coordinating the Diocesan pilgrimage, working with pastors in the Low Desert Vicariate to make it a journey of learning, reflection and prayer.
“It is our hope that the Salton Sea pilgrimage will give participants that chance to slow down, connect with God and with their brothers and sisters who live and work in the Salton Sea area, along with the natural world out there,” said Kott, a parishioner of The Holy Name of Jesus parish in Redlands. “Walking slows us down and helps us open ourselves to what is around us, in the natural and built world. We can take the time to listen to what God has to say by being attentive to everything He created.”
Pilgrims will walk 21.5 miles in total and travel 10.3 miles in vehicles provided by the diocese. On their journey to Desert Shores, they’ll stop at two different parish churches and three mission churches to rest, pray and reflect on creation care spirituality. Two guided discussions on the Salton Sea and its environmental challenges will be led by local experts during the pilgrimage.
Meals and overnight accommodations for the pilgrims will be provided at the Centro Familiar building of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Mecca. On Saturday evening in Mecca the pilgrims will enjoy a Night Sky Viewing and Star Talk led by a Jesuit expert from the Vatican Observatory.
A maximum of 40 people from the diocese will participate in the full pilgrimage so those interested are encouraged to register right away (see QR code). Other members of the faith community who wish to participate on a more limited basis are invited to join for portions of the pilgrimage.
Father Francisco Gomez, sT, Pastor of Our Lady of Soledad, is a strong advocate of the walking pilgrimage as a means to achieve inner transformation that makes one more open to do God’s will.
“Being attentive to our Catholic heritage, the implication is that through pilgrimage we will be more available in the stewardship God has entrusted to us, the care of our common home,” he said.
The Diocese of San Diego began planning their pilgrimage to the Salton Sea last summer as a way to mark the Jubilee Year while highlighting environmental challenges that call for an intentional response from the Catholic faithful.
The Creation Care ministry of the Diocese of San Diego, led by Christina Bagaglio Slentz, invited the Diocese of San Bernardino to share in the pilgrimage by walking south from the eastern Coachella Valley to the Salton Sea.
“This journey in solidarity will offer pilgrims and the local community opportunity to witness our call to care for our common home, contemplate the gift of God’s creation in the beauty of the desert, and pray for greater commitment to the promotion of integral ecology and human flourishing,” said Slentz. “Recognizing the sea is a site of significant environmental impact stretching into both of our dioceses, it is fitting that we unite in our communal hope for creation in this region, witnessing to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”
Kott notes that the joint pilgrimage of the two dioceses is part of a wider effort during the Church’s Jubilee Year to invite people across the U.S. to respond more deeply to the Church teachings on the environment. At press time, more than 200 such Pilgrimages of Hope for Creation were scheduled to take place during the Jubilee Year.
To register for the Diocese of San Bernardino Salton Sea pilgrimage please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GHDMNFD