CALIFORNIA: Young adults work for local, global justice

September 21, 2007 [Episcopal News Service] Young Episcopalians ages 18-30 are going on "camino," or pilgrimage, to Grace Cathedral in San Francisco to explore the church's mission of seeking and serving God among all people, especially the weakest and most vulnerable.

More than 150 young adults from across the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Puerto Rico and Ecuador will learn about the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and explore the Baptismal Covenant and Franciscan spirituality, according to a news release from the Rev. Douglas Fenton, staff officer for young adult and higher education ministries in the Episcopal Church.

On the evening of September 21, after being welcomed to Grace Cathedral by Dean Alan
Jones, the pilgrims will make their way through the cathedral's gothic structure visiting interactive stations emphasizing each MDG. The next morning they will attend workshops on eradicating extreme global poverty and ways of empowering women in the developing world. They will also hear from Episcopal Franciscan friars.

Partners from several offices and agencies at the Episcopal Church Center will resource the camino, including Episcopal Migration Ministries, Episcopal Public Policy Network, Episcopal Relief and Development, and Environmental Stewardship. In addition, Petrina Pakoe from HOPE Africa in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, will be camino's international companion.

Later on September 21, San Francisco's diverse neighborhoods will be the backdrop for a unique urban pilgrimage. Beginning at the cathedral, groups of 12-15 young people will visit sites where the Christian values of compassion, care and hospitality are extended to the city's poor and homeless, according to the news release.

Californian Lyra Harris, a photographer and artist who recently spent time in Honduras with the Episcopal Young Adult Service Corps, created handmade maps of each neighborhood the pilgrims are visiting.

That evening, parishes from throughout the Diocese of California will host a huge, festive potluck supper for the pilgrims.

California Bishop of California Marc Andrus will leave the House of Bishops September 20-25 meeting in New Orleans to preach and commission the young adult pilgrims on September 23 at the cathedral. Andrus has made the MDGs an essential part of his episcopate in California and is a long-time advocate for the voices and ministries of young people in the church.

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