Fr. Corey Brost, CSV, calls it a pilgrimage as he accompanies young people retracing the steps of migrants trying to cross the desert. Together, they reflect on the role faith plays in “welcoming the stranger.”
Twice a year, for the last four years, he has led groups to the border between Arizona and Mexico. This time, they arrived June 7 at the Saint Xavier Mission in Tuscon, which is the oldest church in Arizona, described as the “white dove of the desert.”
#pilgrimagenogales starts with prayer at a 250-year-old church and a stark reminder of how fear has fenced us off from basic Christian values. pic.twitter.com/3OEPv2c5vj
— Corey Brost, C.S.V. (@brostcsv) June 7, 2019
“This is what we do as Viatorians,” Fr. Corey says, “educate young people about pressing issues in our faith, and advocate for those on the margins and the forgotten, which in our society today are the immigrants.”
During their visit, they met with border patrol guards and Good Samaritan guides, as well as celebrated Mass together and prayed at the border for victims who have lost their lives.
#pilgrimagenogales2019 Did you know Border Patrol encountered 140,000 migrants last month in our southwestern deserts hoping to find a home here? Tuesday Nogales agents came across a group of 140, half kids. #WWJD pic.twitter.com/YSDfOXbqgf
— Corey Brost, C.S.V. (@brostcsv) June 8, 2019
“We end it where we begin,” Fr. Corey said, “at a wall between people and cultures, migrants and hope, but we go, pledging to open doors to overcome barriers.”
#PilgrimageNogales2019 Day 3: A desert trek praying at shrines where migrant bodies have been found. 150+ die here each summer because it's so hard to come here legally. God bless our guides Ricardo & Peter, who leave water along those trails weekly. https://t.co/EdUNQHGuRL pic.twitter.com/DxRYFbnvEL
— Corey Brost, C.S.V. (@brostcsv) June 8, 2019