REFLECTIONS ON CATHOLIC MOBILIZING NETWORK’S PILGRIMAGE TO MONTGOMERY AND SELMA, ALABAMA
JANUARY 9, 10, AND 11, 2026

“I been in the storm so long, children
I been in the storm so long, oh, give me little time to pray
Oh, let me tell you mother
Just how come along
Oh give me little time to pray
With a hung down head and an aching heart,
Oh, give me little time to pray”—Bernice Johnson Reagon

FIRST STOP—ROSA PARKS MUSEUM

Yes, I as every other person of color, particularly African Americans know the story of Rosa Parks by heart. But the museum taught me so much and reminded me so vividly that Rosa Parks was not the leader or mover of the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa was one of many men and women who walked, who said, I’ve had enough. Who said, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round”. The museum impressed upon me the organization, the meticulous organization, our people showed in making sure the bus boycott was successful. The planners, marchers, and children had only one goal—keep on walking until the City of Montgomery, AL, desegregated the buses. The singing, the walking, the marching, everything led to one goal—desegregation of the bus system. Black people came together in prayer and community because the success of the boycott did NOT depend on one person. The boycott depended on the desire, determination, and belief in a God who was always with them. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King only reflected the spirit of the people and acted as cheerleaders to keep them walking, walking up to freedomland. The museum was truly an experience with holograms, reenactments, and texts to heighten the sense that I was in the moment!!! The last writing on the wall was an excerpt from Martin Luther King stating “…a great people, a Black people.”

SECOND STOP—LEGACY MUSEUM

“From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration”—Those are the words on the front of the museum. When you walk in, you see a wall of ocean water. And standing there looking at the water, you realize that you will never see your country again, and you are going to a place that you know nothing about, and you don’t even know the reason that you were kidnapped. The Legacy Museum shows every bit of horror that can possibly be placed on a human being—the slave (auction block), life on the plantations, the shacks, the shackles, the beatings, the rapes—everything that was degrading, humiliating, and tortuous. Yet, you see the determination of a people—runaways, passive resistance, those willing to risk death and even mothers resorting to the murder of their children rather than see them enslaved for the rest of their lives. The ink wasn’t even dry on one form of torture before another form of torture was carried out. After emancipation, convict leasing, lynching, creation of prisons became the law of the land. Yet, for a brief period during Reconstruction, men who were barely literate were able to take office and learned the system and worked to create schools for our people. No matter how inferior the schools and meager the government money for those schools, the schools were there to move our people to read, write, and think. The Freedman’s Bureau existed to help our people think beyond survival. They were free enough to dream. But, of course, Reconstruction was short lived. The birth of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizens Council made short work of the brief progress of our people. And Jim Crow laws made sure our people knew their place. The Legacy Museum moved us from enslavement through mass incarceration. And at each step, we saw the resistance, the struggle, the community, the faith, and the prayer.

THIRD STOP—DEXTER PARSONAGE

We walked in the home of Martin Luther King, Jr., while he lived in Montgomery, AL. The parsonage was his actual home. There were many pieces of the original furniture and many that had been replaced by donors who had the furniture of the time. What a privilege to be in the home of Martin Luther King, Jr., to be in the kitchen when he prayed to God and brought all of his fears, anxiety, and sense of failure to God; and with God’s grace, Martin Luther King, Jr., made the decision to continue the fight based on his conviction that his God was and always would be with him. This was the house he played with his children, received and gave comfort and love to his wife and family. This was his home.

FOURTH STOP—THE LYNCHING MONUMENT

This was one of the most gut-wrenching moments of the trip. The monument was outdoors. When you got close to the entrance, you see pillars secured by cement poles that reminded you of ropes. Each pillar had the name of the person who was lynched, the date of the lynching and the city/state of the lynching. After the lynching, relatives took sand and dirt and kept them in jars, much the same way that we now cremate our loved ones. When the monument was completed, the Just Mercy Foundation asked the families to donate the jars to the monument so that everyone could see that real people were brutalized and lynched. And many times, those who were lynched did not even know the crime they had supposedly committed. And there were rows and rows of these pillars and jars.

FIFTH STOP—CITY OF ST. JUDE

City of St. Jude was founded by Fr. Harold Purcell in the 1930s to serve the marginalized communities of Montgomery, AL. The site is huge, really almost a city. Before the march to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Montgomery to Selma, Harry Belafonte had gathered a number of Hollywood celebrities to participate in the march. They all met at the City of St. Jude. When the marchers came back bruised and beaten to the City of St. Jude, the staff of priests, sisters, and lay people ministered to them. We celebrated Mass in the church and had lunch at the Center. The Center had pictures of all the events of the day including the pictures of those who were wounded and helped at the Center.

SIXTH STOP–CROSSING THE EDMUND PETTUS BRIDGE

We crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge to Selma, AL. This was the last leg of our pilgrimage. We crossed the bridge in silence—no songs, no slogans, no banners—silence, not even the Rosary. As we crossed the bridge, I prayed in gratitude to my ancestors who made supreme sacrifices so that future generations like me would live in dignity and never have to suffer the way they did. I felt the holiness of the ground that I walked during the three days we were in Montgomery, culminating in the crossing of the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge. I remembered the words of Al Sharpton many years ago. He said that we are the descendants of the survivors of the Middle Passage. And I felt truly blessed and anointed to walk these holy grounds of our ancestors.

FINAL REFLECTION

Gratitude, Respect, Holiness, Dignity, Sacrifice, Belief, Community, Prayer—All these words are what surfaced in my recollection of this holy pilgrimage. I was so grateful to see and experience vicariously what I could not experience or do as a young child and young teenager. The focus of my “evangelization” is to tell the story of the belief, hope, and actions of our people that if they could not have a better life, then the future generation would live a life they could only dream and pray about. And I continue with the grace of God and the power of my ancestors to tell the story of God’s saving love so that we and not just I will have equality.