Catholic Pilgrimage Groups

Today's posts come from a cafe in Rhodes, our port of the day, where they have cheap and fast internet access. Before talking about today's excursions, some information about the other Catholics on board our cruise ship.

The first afternoon of the cruise, when our group met to set our schedule and answer questions, two women overheard us talking about Mass and asked if they could join us. They are from northern Florida, just north of Daytona Beach, and we were happy to welcome them to our first onboard Mass on Friday. As the afternoon went on, we discovered two other Catholic groups on the ship also journeying on pilgrimages in the Footsteps of St. Paul. One group is led by a Franciscan priest originally from Owensboro, Kentucky. He is leading a group of 30 from all over the country. Tomorrow, they will leave the cruise ship and proceed for a 5-day trip through other parts of Turkey. This evening, we are going to join together with this group for our Mass on board ship. The other group is a 30-person diocesan pilgrimage from Canberra, Australia. They are led by their Archbishop as well as their Archbishop emeritus. Like us, they are also visitng Athens and Rome, so we may encounter them during other parts of our trip. It has been a real blessing to find other pilgrims along our journey, all of us following in St. Paul's footsteps. In a way, it reminds me of the medieval pilgrimages when people from all over the world would meet on the roads to great sites like Canterbury in England or Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The journey of a pilgrim is a powerful experience, and it can be made even more meaningful knowing that you are not alone in your pilgrimage.