A familiar scene greeted my eyes in the morning as I arrived at the 50th Notre Dame pilgrimage at the Welland, Ontario high school of the same name. Hundreds of students were arriving to start the day and the main foyer a buzz with the life. As per my usual routine for such speaking engagements, I went to the office to check-in. Nobody was there. I was briefly puzzled before it dawned on me: It was Sunday. The school was so full of students participating in the pilgrimage that I momentarily forgot it was not a school day.

The Notre Dame Pilgrimage was begun by Rev. Jim Mulligan, a Holy Cross father and Notre Dame teacher who started the tradition in 1975 after a pilgrimage he experienced in France. It quickly grew beyond Notre Dame to include other high schools in the Niagara Catholic District School Board. They now organize their own pilgrimages after the original became too large for them all.

In a reflection written for the 40th anniversary, Fr. Jim said, “I was very taken with ‘pilgrimage’ as metaphor for faith and life. I envisaged three catechetical/pedagogical pillars that would serve as a foundation for a Catholic high school to commit to such a pilgrimage: fundraising to support projects in a developing country, witnessing to faith, and educating for justice.” 

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Fr. Jim passed away in 2022 at the age of 80. These three pillars have remained the foundation of the pilgrimage for 50 years. Carol Berkhout repeated them to me when I arrived. She is a Notre Dame teacher who is now the lead organizer of the pilgrimage.  However, she prefers to give credit to the great team of people around her that work  to pull it off. Carol invited me to attend this special 50th anniversary pilgrimage, as we receive for our mission at Development & Peace – Caritas Canada half of the total funds the annual event raises. In the last five years, they have contributed more than $100,000. It was an honour for me to share the impact of this generosity as I addressed the hundreds of gathered students before we began the walk.

Alumni as well as current students participate. Students heard from Nina Koniuch, who carried the first pilgrimage banner when she was a Grade 9 student in 1975. She carried the alumni banner alongside other alumni, many of whom come every year. At the Mass following the pilgrimage, a grandmother, mother, and daughter who had all taken part as students brought up the gifts for Eucharist.

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I walked 14 km that day. Most of the pilgrimage takes place along the Welland Canal, “rain or shine,” I was told. While I heard many stories of some very rainy and cold pilgrimages past, we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day. 

There are students for whom the pilgrimage is an important part of a larger journey. I walked part of the way with William Manrique. He is an active DPCC member with our St. Catharine’s Diocesan Council, and a key leader in a program the council developed to help students from the different high schools in the diocese engage more deeply with our mission at DPCC. Students make a commitment to attend 12 sessions over the course of the school year. 

We spoke about the importance of having high expectations for young people and giving them the opportunity to meet them. Breadth is important when it comes to public engagement but so is depth. There are currently 36 students in the program. I had chance to talk with some of them including Olamide Iroko, a Grade 10 student. When I asked what drew her to the program she said, “I saw they change DPCC was making in the world I wanted to have the same impact they were having on the world, too.”

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After the end of the Mass, there is always a candlelight prayer to conclude the pilgrimage. The gym descends into darkness and the room then slowly fills with light as students spread the flame from one candle to another. I cannot think of a better way to show the movement of the Holy Spirit through this pilgrimage. Here is to another 50 years.

Luke Stocking is director of public engagement for Development and Peace-Caritas Canada.