Berkeley on the Borderland

For Berkeley seniors to be on Pilgrimage during the first week of spring break is a familiar tradition. Less familiar is the fact that most of this week the Berkeley group has been in the United States, based in El Paso and the Big Bend area of Texas. However as in other years there is an international dimension to the pilgrimage. On three of the days away they’ll be crossing into Mexico, spending time in Juarez, Ojinaga, and Palomas as they share in the work of the Borderland Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Rio Grande.

Outgoing Berkeley Dean Andrew McGowan was keen to find a pilgrimage destination that broadened the school’s connection with Spanish-speaking versions of Anglicanism, whether or not in the Episcopal Church. This year’s pilgrimage is, in a sense, both to the Rio Grande and to the Anglican Church of Mexico. The challenges associated with migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are very familiar. The human face of these, however, is something that the pilgrims have encountered on a day-to-day basis while in Texas and Mexico.

Working with Rio Grande Bridge Chaplain Ana Reza and the Reverend Mike Wallins, Vicar of a set of parishes in the Big Bend. They have been meeting with church groups, people running shelters, immigration lawyers, and of course immigrants themselves as they seek to reflect on the nature of this challenge and how the church responds to it.

Highlights of the first part of their week have included spending time at two El Paso parishes, St. Christopher’s and St. Francis’, as well as speaking with to Grecia Herrera, founder of the Respettrans shelter in Juarez, and Ruben Garcia, founder of the Annunciation House shelter in El Paso. With Juan Ortiz of Casa Carmelita in El Paso, they walked a trail in an area where people seeking asylum will still come on foot, hoping to avoid the border wall and the Border Patrol alike. Pilgrims dropped off water at places where those seeking shelter are known to look.

Berkeley’s senior pilgrimages are part of the Annand Program in spiritual formation and are supported by the legacy of Jamie Hudson.