Catholic pilgrims’ 2,200-mile march begins in S.F.

On Sunday afternoon, Charles East came out of St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco and walked toward the Golden Gate Bridge while reciting the rosary. That was just the start.

After crossing the bridge, East kept walking — on the first leg of a 2,200-mile journey of faith. He is one of about two dozen lay pilgrims selected to walk from the four corners of the country in a National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, converging at a Catholic conclave in Indianapolis that begins two months from now and is expected to draw 50,000 people.

The other three launch points are Brownsville, Texas; New Haven, Conn., and northern Minnesota, and each of the four routes is named for a patron saint with a special significance to the region it passes through. The Western pilgrims — a half-dozen lay travelers dubbed “perpetual pilgrims” plus several clergy — are walking the Junipero Serra route, which is the longest and most arduous, crossing the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains.

“It’s the farthest anyone has walked with Jesus going back to the Apostles in 34 A.D.,” said East, 28, a New Yorker who had never been to San Francisco.

The pilgrims are accompanying the Eucharist, which is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ in the appearance of bread, according to the Catholic faith. It is carried under a canopy at the head of each of the four processions, with ceremonies held at churches and missions along the way, and Catholic faithful invited to join in for portions of the pilgrimage.

The longest day is 13 miles, and to help ease his way, East has a walking staff that was blessed and flown in for the hike. On Sunday he was still fresh and expressed excitement at the prospect of blisters on his feet and probably on his hands, too.

“There is nothing nobler than the sacrifice of yourself for Jesus,” he said at the outset, as the procession that went up Gough Street and zigzagged before turning left on Bush, with the rosary piped through a loudspeaker.

To mark the start of the pilgrimage, 2,600 people packed a Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, some from as far away as New York, the Midwest, Sacramento and Southern California.

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is the first time such a cross-country Catholic pilgrimage has been undertaken — which is saying something.

“The Catholic church is one of the longest-lasting institutions in human history,” said Alex Adamson of San Francisco. “We’ve been celebrating the Mass with the Eucharist for 2,000 years. That’s why the church has lasted this long.”

The pilgrims came out of the church into bright sunshine, escorted by a hierarchy that started with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. To get across the Golden Gate Bridge within the allotted time frame, the initial walk was truncated, with the pilgrims piling into vans at Dominic’s Catholic Church in the Western Addition and driven to the bridge welcoming center to begin their journey anew.

Catholics poured onto the span from across the Bay Area, wanting to be part of history. Organizers estimated that more than 3,000 people crossed on the pedestrian walkway on the east side of the bridge. It took two hours end to end, due to the crowd.

“I’m not going to make it all the way to Indianapolis, but I’m loving this part of it,” said Adamson.

Also making the walk across the bridge were the Little Sisters of the Poor from St. Anne’s Home, Marian sisters of Santa Rosa, St. Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, Dominican priests and brothers, Capuchin priests and brothers, members of the Fraternity of Notre Dame, and the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart from Los Angeles

Those not wearing wimples were wearing ballcaps against the sun. Father Paul Gawlowski came from Our Lady of Guadalupe in Hermosa Beach and wore his Franciscan robe over the hiking boots he broke in while walking the 500mile Camino de Santiago in Spain. He was apologetic that he was walking only to Sausalito, not Indianapolis.

“We want to show unity and witness to our world and to raise and renew the great gift of the Eucharist, which is the presence of Jesus, still with us today,” he said.