Photo credit: San Diego Union
Over 600 people walked over two miles on Sunday in a procession of hope for migrants and refugees that took them to St. Joseph’s Cathedral in downtown San Diego.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the participation was twice the number expected, according to Rev. Scott Santarosa, pastor of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish church in Barrio Logan, where the procession began at the conclusion of the 12:30 pm Mass.
Santarosa said, “This is our very best. The church is not just a building. It’s the people. This is our parish.”
Some people took part in the walk to show their support for immigrants, and others did it as an act of piety of their faith. Catholics who completed the walk and entered the door of St. Joseph’s earned a small measure of grace or mercy for past sins.
Brian Talavera said, “Both my parents are immigrants, so it’s a deep issue for me.”
The procession included priests and altar servers in robes, one swinging a metal pot of burning incense. A musician played an amplified guitar and led the crowd in hymns in Spanish and English. Many people walked together as families, and a few pushed strollers or carried small children.
At the conclusion of the march, the Rev. Brad Mills, parochial vicar of Our Lady of Guadalupe, said a prayer and asked the crowd to remember a message Pope Leo XIV delivered over the weekend at the Vatican for the 2025 World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
In the message, the pope said, “Many migrants, refugees and displaced persons are privileged witnesses of hope. Their courage and tenacity bear heroic testimony to a faith that sees beyond what our eyes can see and gives them the strength to defy death on the various contemporary migration routes.”
