By Katie Vasquez
FINANCIAL DISTRICT — Father Gary Graf, a diocesan priest with the Archdiocese of Chicago, has walked more than 900 miles to stand in solidarity with members of his parish most in need.
“As a priest, as a father, a spiritual father, seeing my children in pain and their parents, I just was compelled to do something,” Father Graf said.
His journey, called “Step Up, Speak Out,” combines faith with a call to action, highlighting the struggles of immigrant families.
“Everything that was going on in Chicago, I just knew that the call was literally from above,” Father Graf said.
Father Graf began his walk on Oct. 6 at the boyhood home of Pope Leo XIII. He said the pope’s legacy has accompanied him through the 1.65 million steps he has taken.
“To be able to leave from his house was truly a blessing,” Father Graf said. “The comments that he made along the way and the Catholic bishops along the way certainly provide a united voice for all of us.”
He was joined on his journey by parishioners and community members. Estefania Velasquez invited Father Graf to visit her church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where the immigrant community has been affected by ICE enforcement.
“It is definitely a very stressful situation, for sure,” Velasquez said. “It was a really beautiful thing to see Father Gary stop by and share his story with us.”
John Gonzalez of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens also joined the walk to experience the challenges faced by the clients he serves.
“I thought about it, I thought, well, let me just take the train, let me just call it quits. So can they call it quits? Can our clients call it quits? They can’t,” Gonzalez said.
Father Graf concluded his pilgrimage Tuesday in New York City, the same place his ancestors from Ireland and Germany arrived many years ago.
“Knowing that they entered here, I wanted to come back to a place where they had the courage to enter this country,” Father Graf said.
Although the walk is over, Father Graf hopes his message continues.
“It just pained me so much for them to be given an image of America that I never knew,” he said. “I felt an obligation as a spiritual father also to be able to tell their story. And so I want to tell the whole story.”