CSF Exclusive Part II: Walking in the footsteps of the American saints

This is the second in a series of reflections by the Perpetual Pilgrims from the St. Junipero Serra Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. Included here are the stories of San Francisco seminarians Dereck Delgado and Jimmy Velasco, as well as Charles East, a Columbia University doctoral student from Roanoke, Virgina.

CSF: Charles, you are a convert to the faith only a few years ago. What was this pilgrimage like for you?

East:
As a convert, I came into the Church and I converted at a university. My Catholic world was really just my fellow students and a chaplain. So a big goal of this pilgrimage for me was to be exposed to different Catholic practices across the U.S. That’s why I was interested in walking the Serra Route—to see as many different states and as many different cultures as possible under one Church.

What was really cool was that by the end when we arrived here in Indianapolis for the convention, two things happened. One, all of those different cultures I saw spread out across those states or across those parishes, were now not only part of one Church, they were under one roof at Lucas Oil Stadium. That was really impactful. But on a more personal level, this was the first time I walked around, and I just knew people. I could wave at them. It’s like, “Oh, hey, look at you.” We have this relationship with each other now.

I would always joke as a convert that it sometimes seems like everyone has this club that they go to that I don’t know about because they’re so well-connected to the community, like one body. And I really got to feel that one body experience for the first time walking around the convention center this week.

CSF: Well, as one body of Christ you were also walking in the footsteps of many American saints—first, St. Junipero Serra, the namesake of the route. Did this help you connect with him and his mission?

Velasco:
Certainly, because he was obviously a missionary. So we, in a way, were the missionaries of the Eucharist, traveling with our Lord, to all these different places that none of us have been to—through little towns, through big cities, large cathedrals, small churches. In a way, we were living that missionary spirit that St. Junipero Serra had when establishing the missions and evangelizing to different people. So we were sharing in his zeal as missionary in that way.

Delgado:
And especially as he walked throughout California, establishing the missions and bringing Jesus Christ to people who did not know Him. In a time when in our world and our country a lot of people have forgotten who Jesus Christ is, I think we were modeling St. Junipero Serra in a very intimate way. And I truly felt that he was with us on this route, just praying for us, interceding for us. There were a lot of difficulties that we had to go through, and I’m sure he can relate very well with that. So he’s looking down on us and he’s just like, “I know how that feels.”

CSF: You also visited St. Augustine Indian Mission Church and School in Omaha, Nebraska, that was founded in 1909 by St. Katharine Drexel, serving the Omaha and Winnebago tribes, as well as other Indian reservations. What was your experience visiting the reservations?

Delgado:
At one of the churches after we finished the liturgy, they invited one of the tribal leaders who wasn’t Catholic to talk to us as a whole group. He shared the pain and the wounds that they had gone through as Native Americans. He told us that this is the place they were relocated to, but it was not their actual home, that their actual home was taken from them. Looking forward, this is where the tribe is now, and this is our home now, but we don’t want to forget the pain that our ancestors experienced having to leave where they were. But then also there was a chance for us to just join in that suffering as our Lord would, the kind of pain that they had gone through.

CSF: You were also able to visit the burial place of Ven. Father Augustus Tolton in Quincy, Illinois, the first African-American priest in the United States whose cause for canonization is open. What was that like?

Delgado:
Honestly, it was amazing. The postulator for his cause is retired Chicago Auxiliery Bishop Joseph Perry, and he was there carrying the Eucharist with us. Bishop Perry was praying for him to intercede for us, and especially for the miracles needed so that we can canonize him a saint.

It was just an exhilarating moment, I think, just to be there and to be there with the African-American community as well, to be there to support them too.

CSF: And he interceded for your procession that day as well.

Velasco:
Yes, originally it was projected to be storming all afternoon. During Vespers at the parish church, our chaplain was praying that through the intercession of Father Tolton the rain would stop. As soon as we walked out, the rain had stopped and everything was dry. So, we were able to walk to his grave, which was actually on the day of his death.

CSF: So many moments of grace! Charles, is there one moment from the pilgrimage that stands out to you?

East:
Yes. It happened during our longest driving day, I think. We were going through Oregon to Idaho at the time. And during portions of this trip, there was really just desolation, no signs of human life. Frankly, not even really any signs of animal life. Only vegetation was out there for miles and miles. And in the midst of all of this, most people at this point were falling asleep. We actually had a bishop in the car at the time, so we were trying our best to stay awake, but we’re human.

And I was looking out the window at one point and I saw a pickup truck in the distance as you’re flying by. And then as we were parallel with it, I saw there was an older gentleman there besides his pickup, and he genuflects and he gets up and he goes back in his car. There’s no sign this is his property, right? This man is out in the middle of nowhere—and he found us.

And on top of it, we were running two hours behind at this point. So if he knew we were going to come along, he may have been in that exact spot for two hours, just waiting for a three-second genuflection, because we are speeding along this road. And so for those three seconds, this man may have waited two hours just to show that sign of respect to the Lord. That’s unbelievable devotion.

Stay tuned for Part III of our exclusive interview with the Perpetual Pilgrims from the St. Junipero Serra Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.