Kathie Stine says it was Divine Providence that coordinated for her to go on a Holy Land Pilgrimage in early 2020 with the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit. Stine said it was also Divine Providence that led her to the friars. They were hosting a healing Mass at St. Bernard of Clairvaux where Stine works as the Liturgy Coordinator.
The Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit were established in the Diocese of Phoenix in 2016 and they are the only religious community who’s sole mission is to minister to Native Americans on reservations. They currently oversee 11 mission churches on four reservations.
Stine remembered hearing about a Holy Land pilgrimage they were leading and felt a tug on her heart to sign up. She talked to Fr. Antony Tinker, Community Servant, who said there was one spot available, and she talked to her husband, who encouraged her to sign up. Little did Stine know that two months after meeting the friars and signing up for the pilgrimage, her husband would pass away suddenly of a stroke.
She was hesitant to still go on the pilgrimage, newly widowed and not knowing a lot of the other pilgrims. Yet with hindsight, she now says it was the best experience of her life. Stine realized that the pilgrimage is what got her through those initial months of being a widow. One powerful moment on the pilgrimage sticks out to her, visiting the empty tomb at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
As a Dame of the Holy Sepulchre since 2000, she visited the Holy Land many times but never understood the joy of the empty tomb. It wasn’t until she went to the Holy Land with the friars that she saw the empty tomb in a different light, where she said she never felt so at peace with anything.
“Joy came over me because I realized, Jesus is not here. He is risen. It's the first time I had been there after someone close to me had passed, and I finally got the resurrection. Who better to do that with than the Franciscan Friars, because they're all about the joy and the peace we find.”
That moment, along with many other moments from the pilgrimage, made her realize that she wasn’t in need of grief counseling. She received healing on the pilgrimage.
“They healed me…I never had anybody to counsel me through that [grief]. I didn't need it, because I went with [the friars] to the glorious empty tomb.”
Stine has continued growing in her friendship with the friars. They stop by her office every time they are hosting an event at St. Bernard of Clairvaux.
“They really care. What more can I say? They just touch people's hearts…Every experience I've had with them has been simply beautiful, and it's because of their heart[s]. They touch souls. Who wouldn't want to go on pilgrimage [with them]?”
Stine is also signed up to go to Italy with two of the friars in January 2025. The pilgrimage will focus on sites in Assisi and Rome. The pilgrimage has been a longtime coming for Stine. She and her late husband had a desire of returning to Assisi, after visiting it for the first time on another pilgrimage. She’s also excited to feel the peace of St. Francis that she remembered feeling in Assisi.
Over the years she’s had time to reflect on what it means to go on pilgrimage.
“As a pilgrim, you're on a journey. You go and you expect nothing, and you receive everything. You get immersed in the prayer and the goodness of the people around you. You leave all behind, surrender it, [and] give it to [God].
“We don't plan anything. We just go and [the friars] by the Spirit, take care of us.”
Stine has learned to surrender not just on pilgrimages, but in the pilgrimage of life.
“When I came home from work and found my husband gone, I [thought] to myself, we're not in charge of anything here. We've got to let Him be our guide. And I just always feel when I'm with the friars, a sense of their abandonment to [God]...and that puts me at rest…I'm just going to go where the Lord and the Franciscan Friars take me.”
Fr. Elijah Delello, FHS will be one of the two Franciscan priests leading the Italy pilgrimage. He was ordained in the Diocese of Phoenix on June 1, 2024. He’s been to Rome and Assisi when he was in a study abroad program with Franciscan University and he remembers the peace he felt.
“I don't know if there's many other places that I've been where I've had such a tangible sense of peace, and [felt] the presence of the Lord.”
Fr. Delello has never led a pilgrimage before. He’s excited to help pilgrims uncover how the Lord is present to them and to return to these holy places, now as a priest.
“I'm sure the Lord's going to be showing me what it means to be a priest there: to be able to celebrate Mass, to be able to hear confessions, to be able to do what a priest is supposed to do. And hopefully being able to help [pilgrims] see what the Lord is doing on that journey.”
Fr. Delello talked about the desires the Lord puts on our hearts and if the Lord has placed a desire on someone’s heart to go on pilgrimage, they should respond to the call.
“It comes down to whether or not the Lord's calling [you] to be there and if [you] have any inclination that the Lord is, then definitely sign up. That means that the Lord has something very particular for you that He wants to pour out and give to you…If the Lord's calling you to this and you feel a draw to it, give him your ‘Yes’ and be at peace that he has something for you there.”
Fr. Peter Teresa McConnell, FHS will also be leading the Italy Pilgrimage and was one of the friars who led the Holy Land Pilgrimage in 2020. He’s most looking forward to visiting the Mountain of Verona where Francis receives the stigmata as well as Greccio where Francis created the first ever Nativity Scene. Visiting the Basilica of St. Francis and St. Clare where their bodies rest, as well as seeing the San Damiano cross that spoke to St. Francis, are also at the top of Fr. McConnell’s list.
Fr. McConnell described a pilgrimage as our lives in miniature.
“We think of life as a pilgrimage. We're trying to go to heaven. And so we're on this journey to get to our destination. We do pilgrimages to kind of mirror that, where we go on this journey…and just as in life, you have to make sacrifices, so it's not a vacation. There might be parts of the pilgrimage that might be a little more difficult. There's going to be some grace and blessing that the Lord has for you throughout it.
“You always come back from the pilgrimage different. There's always a particular blessing or grace that the Lord has for us. And so then we go back to our normal lives, [and] we are changed by that experience, to then hopefully live life as a pilgrimage to heaven better.”
Fr. McConnell reflected on the times he’s led pilgrimages.
“When you're leading a pilgrimage, you're still receiving. But you've also been praying and sacrificing for all of your pilgrims for months leading up to it. And you're praying for all of them while on pilgrimage. You're also just carrying them in your heart. And when you're carrying your bag, you're carrying all of their intentions.”
Fr. McConnell expressed that there could be a lot of fears with going on a pilgrimage, but the Lord will take care of it.
“This is a risk in life worth taking. If you feel called to go then whatever you're nervous about, you can trust that the Lord is going to take care of it. If you really feel like the Lord is calling you to this, but you're nervous for financial reasons, you're nervous because you're afraid to leave someone behind, you're nervous because you've never left the country, you're nervous because you've never done anything like this before, whatever it might be, the Lord is calling you. You can trust that He's going to take care of all of those things.”
If you’re interested in joining Fr. Delello and Fr. McConnell on the Italy Pilgrimage, click here. The price increases on October 8th!