For Father Gary Graf, watching immigrant families suffer in silence became unbearable, so he set out and walked over 900 miles to make their stories impossible to ignore.
As pastor of the predominantly Hispanic Our Lady of the Heights Catholic Church in Chicago, he witnessed immigrant families in his parish living in fear of deportation amid U.S. immigration enforcement actions that he said lack the compassion they deserve.
To shed light on their experience, Father Graf embarked on a nearly two-month pilgrimage — called Step Up, Speak Out — from Dolton, Ill., the boyhood home of Pope Leo XIV, to the Statue of Liberty in New York City.
After 1.65 million steps, the journey culminated on Dec. 2.
“With everything that was going on in Chicago, everything that was happening with past and present parishioners, and the way in which families were being treated, I just knew that the call [to walk] was literally from above,” Father Graf said. “As a spiritual father, seeing my children in pain, I just was compelled to do something.”
A member of Priests for Justice for Immigrants, Father Graf has long been an active voice in the conversation of immigrant rights. He said he felt that this moment in the country required something more visible and rooted in prayer to amplify the voices of those communities while protecting their anonymity.
RELATED: Bishops Issue ‘Special Message’ on Immigration, New Health Care Guidelines at Fall Assembly
Father Graf walked through rural towns, suburbs, farmland, and highways.
Even after breaking two ribs in a fall from a horse early in the journey, he kept going.
Some people joined him for stretches of the walk; others shared their own stories of struggle, resilience, and hope — encounters he said gave him “the spiritual courage to continue” each day.
“The Spirit commands the body, and the body follows the Spirit,” he said. “Every morning, I woke up with new courage because of the people I met.”
One of the people he met is Estefania Velazquez, a Mexican-born parishioner at Holy Infancy Catholic Church in Bethlehem, Pa. She asked that Father Graf stop at her parish so families living in fear could hear his message firsthand.
“I believe that now more than ever, it is very important to see our faith in full fruition, especially with such a sensitive topic like immigration. We are all just trying to strengthen our faith,” Velazquez said, “which is why it was a very beautiful thing to see Father Gary stop by, share his story with us, and also give us that encouragement to stay very close to our faith and not despair in such a difficult time that we’re facing in this country right now.”
Velazquez joined Father Graf at a ceremony in Manhattan to mark the end of his journey, with several interfaith leaders in attendance calling for justice, compassion, and human dignity for immigrants.
Father Graf began his walk in Pope Leo’s childhood neighborhood — a choice he said symbolized both the universality of the Church and the pope’s own family history of immigration.
RELATED: Pope Calls Treatment of Migrants in US ‘Extremely Disrespectful’
“Leaving from the pope’s home was terribly significant,” he said. “It connected the Universal Church to this moment we’re living in — not just Catholics, but people of all faiths seeking justice and compassion.”
The route eventually led him to the Statue of Liberty, where millions of immigrants first stepped onto American soil — including his own great-grandparents.
“In a sense, I was retracing their steps,” Father Graf said. “Because they had the courage to enter this country, I was able to be born here and respond to God’s call in my life. Their hopes and fears are the same as today’s immigrant families.
“I pray this present generation experiences the same love and compassion they did.”
His journey also resonated deeply with New Yorkers working with immigrant families every day — including John Gonzalez, director of parish and community relations at Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens.
Inspired by Father Graf, Gonzalez walked the final New York leg of the pilgrimage himself, enduring steady rain across the George Washington Bridge.
“I felt a sense of solidarity,” Gonzalez said. “When the rain got heavy, I thought, ‘Maybe I should stop and take the train.’ But then I thought of the people we serve. They can’t call it quits. They keep going. So, I kept going, too.”
