St. Catherine's Youth Pilgrimage
June 7 - 15, 2003

On June 7th, Justin Baker, Mark Hogan, Michael Carter, Catie Kilgore, Catherine Boyd, Colleen Whitson, Andrew
Springfield, Jackson Holibaugh, Stephen Nicholson, Stuart Wallace, Elizabeth Hurley, and Zach Hurley, members of our J2A
class (the 9th and 10th grade youth), along with Robbie Burlas, Natalie Whitlow, Kevin Keith, and Heather Manning (the adult chaperones) will fly into Denver, Colorado to begin a 9 day spiritual pilgrimage through New Mexico and Colorado.  We will spend each day in meditation and prayer, examining where and how we find God in ourselves, in nature and in others.  We’ll first be led through a meditation with a Buddhist monk, since meditation is so much a part of the Buddhist tradition.  We’ll then spend the next two days learning about Native American spirituality through sacred hikes, mud and hot baths and by experiencing a sweat lodge.  We will walk the holy trial to Chimayo, a Catholic pilgrimage site outside of Taos, NM, where the dirt is believed to have special healing powers.  We’ll journey to the Great Sands National Monument and observe the awesome power of nature and the effects of water, wind and time.  We’ll spend a day rafting on the Arkansas and later that night have a special cross-over ceremony our J2A youth as they will be recognized as “young adults” in the church.  The next day, each individual will be invited to journey alone and embrace him or herself in solitude in the wilderness with only a sleeping bag, journal, flashlight and tarp for a 16-hour solo.  After much introspective journeying, we will meet again the next day during breakfast and share our experiences and hardships of the night before.  Finally, on Saturday, we’ll celebrate our last day together with a special ceremony the youth will lead summarizing their experiences during the week and by breaking bread together during a special dinner in Denver.