On pilgrimage

"Texas Pilgrims Lose Their Way, but Not Their Faith", by Ralph Blumenthal. New York Times April 16, 2008:

It was 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, nearly 42 hours after Mr. Pequeño, his wife, Maria, and their four sleepy children left Spring, Tex., on a pilgrimage to see Pope Benedict XVI.

After singing hymns, saying the rosary and listening to a traveling companion discuss the mysteries of Jesus Christ, they were in their S.U.V. somewhere near Falls Church, Va., leading a dozen Texas neighbors in an accompanying van, hopelessly lost.

It was not the trip’s first test of their faith, said Mr. Pequeño, a 44-year-old mechanic and follower of the Neocatechumenal Way, a back-to-early-Christianity movement, who had once waited 14 hours in a bus to catch a glimpse of Pope John Paul II passing through the airport in Monterrey, Mexico.

But he said: “This is not a vacation. This is not a pleasure trip. This is a pilgrimage, a trip of faith. We want our faith to be stronger. The Lord wants us here.” ...