ROME (CNS) – A group of U.S. pilgrims who crossed the threshold of the Holy Door at the Basilica of St. Mary Major Feb. 6 have traveled the world on the orders of superiors, but no one ordered them to make this trip and that made a huge difference, they said.
"I always wanted to travel; that is part of why I joined the Air Force," said Senior Airman Justin Jimenez, who is stationed at Beale Air Force Base in California. "It is not too much to drop everything and go, but this is different. It's sacred."
The airman was part of a pilgrimage sponsored by the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services to take part in the Feb. 8-9 Jubilee of the Armed Services, Police and Security Personnel.
The Holy Name Society of the New York Police Department also organized a pilgrimage for the Jubilee, bringing active duty and retired officers and their family members.
NYPD Capt. Ben Bellingeri and his wife, Rae, were married in November and decided to make the pilgrimage the first part of their honeymoon.
Both were, as Rae said, "baptized as babies, but confirmed as adults." Ben said the pilgrimage is part of their effort "to intertwine" their re-found faith into their marriage.
The NYPD and military archdiocese groups made up the bulk of the 100 U.S. pilgrims expected to join some 13,000 members of the military and police forces from around the world for the Holy Year celebration.
Just a few hours after landing in Rome Feb. 6, most of the military group was attending Mass at St. Mary Major, although a few members of the pilgrimage were missing because their flights from Japan had been delayed.
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, head of the archdiocese, led the pilgrimage and celebrated the Mass.
The archbishop, like the men and women he provides spiritual care to, travels frequently and far.
"We are constantly on the move to accomplish a job or to complete a mission or to fill in some place," he said, but the Holy Year trip "is really a broadening, a wider image of life as a pilgrimage."
The Jubilee is an opportunity "to accomplish a mission given by 'the' superior who calls us to the fullness of life," the archbishop told Catholic News Service. "It is envisioning our experience, whatever our vocation is, in that context of being a part of the mission given to us by Jesus Christ."
Retired U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Sompaul Vorapanich, director of the Knights of Columbus' Warriors to Lourdes Pilgrimage, said he had always wanted to make a pilgrimage to Rome and with his experience leading military to Lourdes, he thought joining the Jubilee pilgrimage of the Archdiocese for the Military Services was the perfect way to do that.
Senior Airman Alex Strazalka from Travis Air Force Base in California said, "Going on pilgrimage is different from work-related travel because this is a gift. No one is being ordered to go. All of the people here are proud to be Catholic, like I am."
But, he said, "I never thought in a million years I would be here. I was born Catholic and made my first Communion in second grade and that was it." But when he was stationed at Travis, "something drew me back to the church, and I felt at home after that long gap from second grade until I was 21."
Airman Jimenez described himself as "a cradle Catholic who fell away from the faith for four or five years" but has become interested in growing in his faith. The Jubilee trip is the first retreat or pilgrimage he has ever done.
Juliana Gahr is a member of the archdiocese's Team Saint Paul, an initiative to train and station missionaries to build the faith among their peers at U.S. military installations. Gahr works with other young adults serving in the Air Force at Travis.
She said she sees a "beautiful" connection between the virtues espoused by members of the military and by the Catholic faith: "service, mission and sacrifice."
Msgr. Robert Romano, an NYPD chaplain, said the four dozen people in his group all had different reasons for making the pilgrimage, but he hopes they grow "in prayer, in understanding God's plan for their lives and in recognizing his love for them."
The theme of the Holy Year is "pilgrims of hope," and NYPD Sgt. Catherine Kunst said she sees signs of hope in her work at the police academy.
"Many of the recruits who come through still see it as a calling, not a job. The fact that in these times, you still see people who want to serve in this profession gives me hope," she said Feb. 7 after passing through the Holy Door at Rome's Basilica of St. John Lateran.
Capt. Angeline Ozuna Reyes said she is about to retire from the NYPD, and with holy years taking place only every 25 years, she wanted the "once in a lifetime chance" to make the pilgrimage with people she works with.
Her hope, she said, is that "the Lord would send his holy angels to protect us, our fellow officers and the people we serve – because that's why we do what we do."
