The set-up team for the “Camino de New York” arrived at St. Frances Cabrini Shrine before sunrise on October 31. Fifteen long miles lay ahead for Bishop Peter Byrne, Fr. Vincent Druding, representative of several religious communities, and the faithful who planned to walk the length of Manhattan in prayer and sacrifice for an increase in vocations. The Shrine was the starting point.
The idea for the walk came while Bishop Byrne and Fr. Vincent walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain this past August. They discussed the urgent need of the Church for more priests and religious whose hearts are on fire to bring the Gospel to souls. Why not create a camino in New York? The project quickly took shape.
The Shrine offered to provide a light breakfast for the walkers after the bilingual Mass. Since no registration was required for the walkers, we guessed that a 7:30 am Mass on a Saturday might draw 60 participants. We were only off by about 200! Fortunately, we’d just done a Costco run and had several cases of granola bars and other snacks on hand. Equally fortunate, Sr. Laura Baldini, MSC arrived to help with logistics. And what a way to start the day! The crowd headed out at about 9:15am, leaving us time to set up for our regular 9:30 am Mass and the rest of the day.
