Julio and Katherine Chavez weren’t quite sure what to expect when they joined more than 30 other Catholics from the diocese on a rainy morning in Coachella to begin a 31-mile walk to the Salton Sea. It was their first experience of pilgrimage.
But when the two-day journey had drawn to a close, the couple, parishioners of St. Joseph the Worker parish in Loma Linda, called it a “once in lifetime experience.”
“It was beautiful to walk in the rain. That’s another part of God’s creation,” Katherine said. “With each stop [on the walk] we had a prayer and reflection. For me, it really invited the Holy Spirit to come.”
The Jubilee Pilgrimage of Hope for Creation, which took place Nov. 15-16, was a joint endeavor of the dioceses of San Bernardino and San Diego, meant to reflect the Jubilee Year theme of pilgrimage while inviting walkers to contemplate God’s handiwork in the surrounding desert landscape. The San Bernardino pilgrims walked south from Coachella while the San Diego group walked north from El Centro.
The two pilgrim groups met on Sunday in the small community of Desert Shores, where they walked to the shore of the Salton Sea for a final prayer and blessing of the waters. They then attended Mass together at nearby Christ the King Mission Church with Bishop Emeritus Gerald Barnes as the chief celebrant.
Echoing both St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures and Pope Francis’s groundbreaking Laudato Si encyclical, Bishop Barnes encouraged those in attendance to see the earth as “our mother and take care of her.”
“It’s our responsibility,” he continued. “The Lord has entrusted us with this mission.”
Anaheim resident Eric Demopoulos, who was among the San Bernardino pilgrims, said the spiritual dimension of the two-day walk was deeply felt.
“Even out here in the desert, even the Salton Sea. We need to remember that every little thing is part of what God created,” Demopoulos said. “And we need to nurture that.”
The Salton Sea as the destination point of the two pilgrimages was symbolically chosen. A 318-square mile saltwater lake that straddles the two dioceses, it has been described in its history as both a natural wonder and, in recent decades, one of California’s worst ecological disasters. On the first day of the San Bernardino walk, pilgrims stopped for lunch at El Senior de Misericordia Mission in Coachella and heard a talk from Castulo Estrada, Vice President of the Salton Sea Authority Board of Directors. Estrada shared the unique environmental challenges associated with the Salton Sea and proposed plans to restore it.
Despite intermittent rains, the San Bernardino pilgrims covered 15 miles (11 on foot) the first day of the walk, which ended in Mecca. They visited and prayed at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe church, a Jubilee Pilgrimage site of the diocese. Later, they enjoyed a guided “star talk” with Jesuit scholastic Rob Lorenz, SJ, an outreach officer with the Vatican Observatory. The pilgrims were hosted for the night at the Galilee Center, a Catholic-affiliated shelter for migrants and local farmworkers.
The next day, when pilgrims from both dioceses gathered at the shore of the Salton Sea, they laid down small stones that they had been encouraged to carry with them for their entire walk, symbolizing both the hope and the burden of the journey, and the environmental burdens associated with the Salton Sea.
“With great love in our hearts for Mother Earth, for each other and for the entire world, we place our pebble on this beach,” said Sister Kathy Warren, OSF, as the pilgrims gathered for the blessing of the water.
Desert Shores resident Oscar Ramirez, who joined the San Diego pilgrimage with his family, said he hoped the event would put his community “on the map.”
“I know that we’re not forgotten,” he said. “We were so fortunate to have both dioceses meet here at Christ the King, our small little mission.”
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.
Marilyn Kott, the chief organizer of the San Bernardino pilgrimage and a member of the diocese’s Laudato Si Committee, said she hopes the transformative experience of the walk shared by people of faith from both dioceses will create momentum for Creation Care ministry in the parishes where they worship.
“For me, the pilgrimage really came together in a way that beautifully demonstrates the abundant life God means for us,” Kott reflected. “He provided everything – the people and organizations who welcomed, sheltered, fed, and taught us. The sun, the rain, the wind, all of God’s Earth which sustains us every day with the air we breathe, warmth, nourishment and beauty. We had the chance to practice reliance on God, and being grateful for whatever was offered to us.”
During his homily at the closing Mass, Father Emmet Farrel, a retired priest of the Diocese of San Diego, helped put the many blessings of the pilgrimage in perspective. Fr. Farrel, a key figure in the foundation of Creation Care ministry in his diocese, had joined the San Diego pilgrims on their walk.
“We were walking in nature, we had new experiences, we met new people, we learned new things,” he said. “As we walked, we were graced.”
In addition to the hosting parishes, missions and the Galilee Center, the Knights of Columbus, Council #3847, under the leadership of Grand Knight Juan De Lara generously supported the pilgrimage by providing all meals, and drove the route with portable toilets for pilgrims.