Saturday, June 27, 2009
A brotherly journey
Six friars are walking from Roanoke to the nation's capital.
JOHN W. ADKISSON l The Roanoke Times
(From left) Friars Ed Shea, Roger Lopez, Mark Soehner, Clifford Hennings, Joshua van Cleef and Richard Goodin came from Chicago to Roanoke to begin a walking pilgrimage to Washington, D.C.
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So six friars were walking down the street on the day Harley-Davidson bikers were expected to flood downtown Roanoke. Each friar wore a brown habit and a white chord around the waist, and encountered exchanges like this one with a man wearing a denim jacket and waiting for the bike show:
Biker: "Well, what are y'all doing out here?"
Friar: "We're walking to Washington, D.C."
Biker: "You're walking?!"
Yes, they were going to the District, and they were going to get there by foot. The six -- two priests and four men who had made vows of poverty, chastity and obedience -- are followers of St. Francis of Assisi, who founded the Franciscan orders and led the movement of evangelical poverty during the 13th century in Italy.
They arrived June 1 in the Roanoke Valley by car from the friary where they live in Chicago. They picked Roanoke as the place to start their journey out of localities within a six-week walking distance from their destination: the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington. While in the Roanoke Valley, they worked for food at places of worship, and on Sunday, June 21, they left on their foot journey to D.C.
On June 19, when the state rally of Harley Owners Groups kicked off, the friars explained to curious minds in downtown Roanoke that the pilgrimage was an option during their formation, and they wanted to witness life through other people rather than their own experience.
"The beauty is living in the now," said friar Roger Lopez, 30, a native of Pensacola, Fla. "When we encounter people on the road, we can spend time with them. We're going to let God plan this. That way, we can really hear the presence of God."
The three other men preparing for the priesthood with Lopez were men in their mid-20s. One of them, Joshua van Cleef, 24, graduated in 2008 from Virginia Military Institute and spent the past year helping people in poor neighborhoods of Cincinnati. There, he learned peace is elemental and that "people are good."
"If I don't have peace inside, I can't help the world," he said while walking down Campbell Avenue. "Yes, we live among the poor, but we won't have anything to give unless we have peace to give the world."
In the Roanoke Valley, the friars slept in the house of an Our Lady of Perpetual Help parishioner in Salem, and arrived Friday at 8 a.m. to the Madonna House, a community in downtown Roanoke that offers spiritual retreat. They spent the day under the unforgiving sun, sifting weeds from rocks in the house's garden and singing songs.
Margarita Guerrero, a Madonna House staff member, said she had wanted to weed the garden for weeks, and when the house learned a group of Franciscan friars was coming she knew they could be trusted with the laborious project.
"For me, it's exciting that they're our brothers in the Lord," said Guerrero, sweat dripping off her brow. "It's like our own brothers are coming in from across the country."
They worked and sang at Our Lady of Perpetual Help over the weekend, and on Saturday afternoon began walking toward Lynchburg on U.S. 460 wearing their habits and each carrying the only possessions he brought -- an extra set of underclothes, a poncho and a blanket. Their goal: make it to Washington by July 29.
