Originally published at Orange County Catholic
A GROUP OF PILGRIMS from the Diocese of Orange joined the Catholic Mobilizing Network for three powerful days in Alabama back in 2024, traveling to Selma, Montgomery and Birmingham. The group visited some of the central sites of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
The following is adapted from a Homily by Fr. Gregory Walgenbach for the XXI Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 25, 2024 (Joshua 24:1–2a, 15–17, 18b; Ps 34:2–3, 16–17, 18–19, 20–21 (9a); Eph 5:21–32; John 6:60–69).
Our pilgrimage to Alabama to visit some of the central sites of the Civil Rights Movement was an incredible, disturbing and inspiring time of learning and reflection. We witnessed great courage in the testimonies from those whom many of us had never heard of, but who marched and fought alongside other “foot soldiers” (because they did so much walking) for justice and peace. Then there were those you might have heard of: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.
See, rather than life, many people in the country had chosen to follow the unjust gods of white supremacy, the almighty dollar, greed, economic exploitation, a civilization of exclusion, exploitation and death.
Death came in the