Diocese of Greensburg Pilgrimage

BY MELISSA WILLIAMS BROWN
Contributing Writer

GREENSBURG – Some 60 walkers journeyed through Greensburg and quaint and welcoming neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, participating in a prayerful and innovative walk led by Father Andrew J. Hamilton, Parochial Vicar at the parishes that make up Southern Fayette County, who spearheaded and organized the pilgrimage. They were joined by Bishop Larry J. Kulick.

The April weather, said Father Hamilton, was on the pilgrims’ side and “a blessing,” though it was still a brisk morning, with “no water from the heavens.”

“Usually we might pray for rain, but instead, I prayed for a week for God to wait a bit longer to release the floodgates,” said Father Hamilton.

The pilgrimage walk came about when Father Hamilton was at a gathering to celebrate Christmas. He said the group was looking for events for the Year of Hope. Blessed Sacrament Cathedral was hosting many events for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.

Father Hamilton said there were many opportunities, but none that directly involved a doing a reverse Camino, a famous pilgrimage in Spain.

Consider traffic and safety concerns, the planners decided to begin the route at Saint Bartholomew Church in Crabtree, using streets or residential neighborhoods to make their way to Saint Emma Monastery near Greensburg, making stops in neighborhoods along the way and ending at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral with Mass.

Father Hamilton believes it was a “significant faith event for many.”

The day began with a short prayer service, highlighting themes of the pilgrimage in sacred Scripture, especially Psalms.

“When we climbed the hill to the cathedral, it hearkened me back to the pilgrimage to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus and is a microcosm of our spiritual life, as we ascend the mountain of God,” Father Hamilton said.