Our pilgrimage will begin in the morning with a short prayer liturgy at the Laudato Si’ Centre, Wardley Hall. Pilgrims will then commence the nine-mile walk to Salford Cathedral’s Temporary Church, stopping for various encounters with schools and parishioners enroute.
We’ll bring our pilgrimage to an end with a vibrant celebration of Mass for the Care of Creation at 6pm in Salford Cathedral’s Temporary Church.
For those that cannot attend the pilgrimage in person, this Virtual Pilgrimage Pack will allow you to organise your own Hope for Our Common Home pilgrimage for friends and family or for members of your local parish. It is hoped that people will also use the resource to follow along during the day, accompanying us virtually.
Top tips for organising your own pilgrimage
Before the walk:
- Clarify the purpose of the pilgrimage.
- Decide on the route, length of your walk and level of difficulty. Arrange meeting points, comfort and refreshment breaks, safety and first aid support, transport and marshals.
- Ensure all permissions are in place. Inform your Diocesan Health and Safety Department and the Safeguarding team of your plans. They can advise on what documentation or risk assessments might be required.
- Invite participants. Ask friends and family to join you and advertise your walk in your parish.
- Be sure to reach out to members of your local community. You may also like to extend the invite to other faith leaders in your area.
- Prepare the participants by sharing practicalities and packing lists. You might wish to encourage spiritual preparation too.
- Finally, you should consider assigning roles. Identify the pilgrimage guide, someone responsible for safety/first aid and any prayer readers.
After the walk:
- Encourage pilgrims to share their experiences and insights.
- Gather feedback to improve future pilgrimages.
- Share photos, a reflection, or testimony in the parish bulletin/website.
- Invite pilgrims to continue journeying together, consider making it a parish tradition or seasonal pilgrimage.
As we begin our walk, let us allow these words from Pope Leo XIV to raise our spirits in hope:
“Care for creation therefore represents a true vocation for every human being, a commitment to be fulfilled within creation itself, without ever forgetting that we are creatures among creatures, and not creators. For this reason, it is important, as my Predecessor wrote, to “recover a serene harmony with creation, reflecting on our lifestyle and our ideals, and contemplating the Creator who lives among us and surrounds us.””
Our special pilgrimage is taking place during the Season of Creation, which is a time when Christians come together in prayer and action for Creation. The event is a powerful opportunity for participants to live out their faith through action, prayer and communion with one whilst celebrating God’s creation.
“Pope Leo has given new energy to the Church’s mission of caring for creation. His introduction of the Mass for the Care of Creation shows that this concern is not optional but central to our life of faith.” explains Emily Cahill, Laudato Si’ Centre Environment and Learning Officer. She adds, “By rooting ecological responsibility in prayer and worship, he reminds us that safeguarding the Earth is both a spiritual calling and a practical task. His vision challenges us to walk together with humility, recognising that we are creatures among creatures, entrusted with the gift of our common home.”
Pilgrimage Blessing
Creator, we are on a journey towards greater love for you, our sisters and brothers, and all creation.
Holy Spirit, we humbly ask that you guide us on our journey as we seek to discern and respond to your will.
Redeemer, we thank you for the new hope that unites us with all those who are healing their relationships with God,
creation, and the human family.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Adapted from the Laudato Si' Movement Prayer Book
“10 years ago, this encyclical called for a radically new, integral and ecological relationship with the planet, our common home. Hence, we need to ask ourselves: what has changed for the better in these intervening years? How have we contributed to this?” explains Fr. Kevin McDonagh, who was assigned to work in Peru for many years and now lives in Britain and who is a member of the Columban JPE Team in Britain.
“We are painfully aware that the plight of our common home and of our most vulnerable brothers and sisters has become immeasurably worse on multiple fronts. Climate scientists are firmly indicating that humanity is headed for a three-degree warmer planet by 2100. There is no solution to this ecological emergency without us being willing to make urgent and immense personal and collective sacrifices to our way of life.” explains Fr. Kevin. He adds, “Simply celebrating Laudato Si´ in an intellectualized and spiritualized fashion is not satisfactory. We’ve had sufficient reading, discernment and, indeed, well-intentioned prayer around this death-dealing crisis. We now need a crusade of committed action at every level, starting with me and you. How much of my fossil-fuel dependent lifestyle am I willing to renounce?”
In a moment of silence, and then in sharing with other pilgrims, consider what stands out for you from their reflections. What does it mean to us that our Catholic faith calls for us to ‘care for creation’?
Lunchtime Prayer
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.
Amen.
Laudato Si’
At last year’s Columban General Assembly, biodiversity protection and restoration was chosen as one of the two Columban Mission priorities.
“Each year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant and animal species which we will never know, which our children will never see, because they have been lost for ever. The great majority become extinct for reasons related to human activity. Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right.”Laudato Si’ 33
Columban Fr. Liam O’Callaghan in Pakistan says “I find this paragraph really stark and cuts to the heart of the problem. Biodiversity loss is a reality in Pakistan. Four species have become extinct: tiger, swamp deer, lion and Indian one-horned rhino. Others are endangered, including the markhor (the national animal of Pakistan), the Indus river dolphin, Marco Polo sheep and the snow leopard. And ecosystems are at risk, including coral reefs and mangrove forests in the South.”
Prayer Stop
Lord, we praise and thank you for the beauty and goodness of creation around us. Help us to reverence all of creation, respecting the rights of all species, and the integrity of the elements.
Your plundered Earth, with its rich variety of endangered species, is crying out for healing. Help us to be instruments of that healing, O Lord, and to redeem the harm we have done to the planet.
Help us to hear the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, and together with all people of good will, work together to find ways of protecting and caring for creation - ways of preventing the destruction of habitats and soil, and of saving species from extinction. Rain down your Spirit of wisdom upon us for this crucial work; through Christ our Lord.
Amen
Columbans in the Philippines
Closer to home, Ellen Teague, from the Columban Justice, Peace and Ecology team in Britain says: “The UK boasts more than 70,000 known species of animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms, but the majority of assessments indicate that the abundance of its wildlife is declining. There has been a 13% decline in the average abundance of wildlife in the UK since the 1970s. Growing pressure from introduced diseases, invasive non-native species and climate change is expected to further exacerbate the decline of the UK’s natural wealth over the coming decades.”
In a moment of silence, and then in sharing with other pilgrims, consider what stands out for you from their reflections. What does Christian faith have to do with biodiversity?
To conclude our pilgrimage, we’ll celebrate the new Mass for the Care of Creation approved by Pope Leo at Salford Cathedral’s temporary church at 6PM. The Mass will be livestreamed, enabling virtual pilgrims to join us in spirit for our closing liturgy. You can access it here.
The Mass for the Care of Creation, recently approved by Pope Leo encourages Catholics across the globe to come together in the highest form of prayer for our common home. The translation for the text has yet to be formally approved by the Bishops’ Conference of England, which is set to take place in November 2025. However, in some cases temporary texts are available for parishes and schools to celebrate the Mass during the Season of Creation. We encourage you to contact your local diocese for further information should you wish for a Mass for the Care of Creation to be held in your local parish.
Closing Prayer
God of the poor, helper of the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation.
May our prayer at the end of this pilgrimage unite us with every creature, as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us these days.
Encourage us all, we pray, in our ongoing commitments: justice, peace, care for creation, welcoming the stranger, education, dialogue, invitation, welcome and service.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
Adapted from prayer in Laudato Si’
We’d love to hear if you’ve participated in this event as a virtual pilgrim or if indeed you have already, or plan to hold a pilgrimage in your local area for our common home. Please email us at office@columbans.co.uk to share your experience.
