Young people put on their walking shoes for a seven-mile pilgrimage

Thirty young people made a pilgrimage to the Holy Doors at Our Lady of Lourdes Church of Mary, Mother of Mercy Parish in Glassboro, on Monday, July 25, in solidarity with their brothers and sisters who travelled to Poland for World Youth Day.

“We showed our love for God and our faith, and prayed for world peace,” said Sherry Dvorak, Youth Ministry Coordinator at Mary, Mother of Mercy.

Twenty youth from her parish, and two from the Parish Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Lindenwold, started with 9 a.m. Mass at the parish’s Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Pitman, and then walked to Our Lady of Lourdes.

Joining them were youth who walked from Saint Mary Church of Our Lady of Peace Parish in Williamstown.

They made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the hungry at Camden’s Cathedral Kitchen before adoration in the church. Lunch followed.

“The seven miles we walked” from Williamstown to Glassboro “brought us deeper into our faith, and closer together,” said 14-year-old Emma Straus, a member of Our Lady of Peace’s youth group. As well, she expressed insight one might have heard thousands of miles away, from Pope Francis in Krakow. “Jesus was with me every step of the way.”