Mike McClenahan

Sunset in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.  Just getting started up the hill. Stop at Orisson for café cortado and Spanish tortilla. Every pilgrim gets a shell (symbol of pilgrimage) and I made a cross along the way with sticks and dental floss. I got a similar one on the Washington Mall to remember the plight of immigrants. As we walk I'm thinking from time to time about the caravan from Central America—a pastor pilgrimage of desperation rather than by choice. Amazing views and making our way up the 3800 ft climb. With elevation, it was a 30k first day from Saint Jean. Elevation marker Almost the top—amazing snow capped Pyrenees. Beautiful descent from highest point, Col de Lepoeder, at 4000 feet. Mass and service of blessing for pilgrims from all over the world. In 2010, Amy and I participated in a two week course with Fuller Seminary in Orvieto. To explore the theme of pilgrimage we walked a particular place and reflected on what we saw and experienced...

In 1981, the summer between my junior and senior year at UCLA, I studied in Madrid for six weeks. I had declared my Spanish major the previous September because I could graduate in four years with AP units and because I loved the language. I saw a flyer for the summer program with Bryn Mawr’s Centro de Estudios Hispánicos. I got accepted to the program with a scholarship. I packed my bags and backpack and began my first trip to Europe. Not many of my friends studied abroad, and no one in my family had traveled to Europe. Just a few years ago my mom told me she cried all the way back from the airport. I had never been to a nation’s capitol, even our own. Madrid’s monuments, fountains, post office that looked like a palace, wide boulevards, narrow alleys and the expansive Retiro Park inspired me. I was taken by Spain’s romantic history of kings and queens, art, culture, buildings, the independence of food, I experienced the independence of travel and the journey with other students in...

Our last day in Israel began with the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, which remembers the six million Jews killed in the holocaust, including 1.5 million children, with stories, maps, pictures, videos, and left-behind shoes. They were gathered from all over Europe, the Middle East and Africa to work, die, march, burn, and starve because they were Jewish. The stories of those who were complicit begin with the Nazi party and officers, but extend to those who remained silent—some in the Church didn’t speak out and countries around the world refused to receive refugees. One story captures the inhospitality of other countries toward the refugees. The Saint Louis ship left Europe filled will Jews trying to escape to Cuba. After four days they were forcibly removed and sent to Miami, where they were also turned back to Antwerp. They divided into groups and entered back into danger, except for the few who were able to go to England. Much of the world rejected the Jewish refugees. They we...

It is 9:45am and we are at the Frankfurt airport, sitting on the Lufthansa connecting flight from Tel Aviv to Barcelona. We passed through security at 9:00pm in Tel Aviv with the majority of our group flying back to San Diego through San Francisco. Their flight was at 12:30am, and our flight left at 4:50am. We slept on the floor of the terminal, using our backpacks and jackets for pillows. We fell asleep exhausted and grateful for eight days leading our group of 34 through Israel. We landed in Frankfurt and grabbed a bratwurst and beer for breakfast. We’ve just spent the last eight days touring Israel. We woke up at 6:00 every morning and walked five or six miles through ancient sites. So much time walking and talking, making new friendships and deepening old ones, sharing meals together and asking questions about what we were experiencing. One day we began at the Church of the Beatitudes, eight walls for each of the blessings of the beatitudes. We read the first part of Matt...