For the hundreds of students, faculty, alumni and families of the Avalon and Brookewood Schools winding their way through more than 20 miles of the Archdiocese of Washington, from the District’s city streets to sprawling Montgomery County suburbia, during their walking pilgrimage, the schools’ mottos: “Duc in altum” (Put out into the deep) and “Nolite Timere” (Be Not Afraid) – inspired by Pope John Paul II – took on a more profound and personal meaning.
“It’s an opportunity to live out this fearless idea of showing our faith to everyone and to show it together,” said Mary Joseph Acevedo, a Brookewood senior. “I’m so proud to walk the pilgrimage.”
This year’s Avalon and Brookewood Schools’ pilgrimage theme highlighted the Year of Mercy as proclaimed by Pope Francis, with about 400 pilgrims starting the day in morning hours of Saturday, May 7, with a Mass at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C.
Richard McPherson, president of Avalon and Brookewood Schools, spoke of the significance of beginning the 9th annual pilgrimage at the shrine dedicated to the pontiff who instituted the Church’s Divine Mercy devotion. Before they headed out, participants paid a visit to a first-class relic of St. Pope John Paul II, a reliquary of the late pontiff’s blood, kept in one of the shrine’s chapels.
“It’s a witness to who we are,“ said Tomas Alicea, a senior at Avalon. Along with many of his schoolmates, Alicea spent part of the pilgrimage leading the group while carrying a large statue of the Blessed Mother, Our Lady Most Pure, adorned with bouquets of red roses.
The Avalon School, which opened its doors in 2003, is an all-boys Catholic school, from kindergarten through 12th grade in Gaithersburg. Its sister school, The Brookewood School, founded in 2006, is an all-girls Catholic school in Kensington with grades first through 12.
One of the first stops along the route included a somewhat impromptu visit with the Little Sisters of the Poor at the Jeanne Jugan Residence, where the sisters rang the bell located near the residence’s entrance to joyfully welcome their youthful visitors.
“This is a real inspiration to see so many young people led by their parents and teachers to do this walk,” said Little Sister of the Poor Sister Mary Bernard. “For the conversion of the world and for peace, this is what is needed. The Lord hears the prayers of the little ones. It touches my heart and lifts the residents’ spirits.”
Heading down Harewood Road toward the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, pilgrims were greeted and cheered on by CUA President John Garvey, his wife, Jeanne, and their dog, Gus. “Some of our family are doing the walk,” he told the Catholic Standard. “I’m so pleased they do this.” Two of the Garveys’ granddaughters attend Brookewood, and several CUA graduates teach at both schools. “We like to say they are educated at CUA, and then go onto to educate those at Brookewood and Avalon,” President Garvey said.
At the National Shrine, the pilgrims processed through the Holy Door, before heading about two miles west to the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in D.C., where they stopped inside to pray the rosary together. At each site, participants recited the archdiocesan prayer for the Year of Mercy.
Whether they were navigating quiet, leafy neighborhoods or busy commercial areas, passersby would sometimes wave, smile or honk their vehicles in support. “It’s for the Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis!” a group of Avalon and Brookewood boys and girls proudly told an elderly couple who stopped their car to ask the reason for the large group of walkers.
“Avalon is our community and has been for a decade,” said Siobhan Solomon, whose family is Jewish. Her two sons graduated from Avalon, but she and her husband, Richard, support the pilgrimage every year by supplying snacks and water for the weary and hungry pilgrims along the route. “This is our service,” she said referring to Tzedakah, the Jewish tradition of charitable works of mercy.
Other stops included the Oblate Sisters of the Most Holy Eucharist convent in Northwest D.C.; Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Bethesda; the Our Lady of Bethesda Retreat House; Our Lady of Mercy Parish, Potomac and Holy Redeemer Parish, Kensington, where a vigil Mass was celebrated for all the pilgrimage participants.
Woven into the history and traditions of both schools, Kevin Davern, The Avalon School headmaster, describes the pilgrimage as “penitential, joyful, lively and a public witness” that especially honors Mary in May, the month of special devotion to her.
Davern noted that after having walked in the schools’ pilgrimages for almost 10 years, the byways and highways along the many different routes never look the same again. “It always brings back intentions you were praying for” and special memories of past pilgrimages, he said.
Following the Mass, a celebratory cookout was held on the grounds of Holy Redeemer Parish. Joseph McPherson, headmaster of Brookewood School, said the pilgrimage is “a public and social act that reminds us that the Church should be in the world, not something merely private,” he said. “It is said that wherever St. Philip Neri went it was ‘half picnic, half pilgrimage.’” The Avalon/Brookewood Pilgrimage is just that, he said.
“This pushes me to live out my faith,” said Caterina De Marchi, a Brookewood senior. “Walking behind the statue of Mary is a real testimony to our faith. I get a sense of peace during the pilgrimage. I feel very loved at the end.”
