Journeying As Pilgrims of Hope: A special Jubilee Year Experience in Montgomery & Selma, AL for National Catholic Ministry Leaders
November 5 @ 1:00 pm – November 7 @ 1:00 pm EST
Every 25 years, the Catholic Church recognizes a special Jubilee Year, a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God by proclaiming liberation, conversion, and reconciliation. In this 2025 Jubilee Year, Pope Francis has called each of us to be Pilgrims of Hope: the Jubilee “calls us to spiritual renewal and commits us to the transformation of our world,” especially “for all those who are in bondage to forms of slavery, old and new.”
CMN believes that transforming the U.S. criminal legal system requires acknowledgment of the legacy of racism in which it is rooted, as well as the clear connections between the history of racial terror lynchings and modern-day capital punishment. This is why we invite National Catholic Ministry Leaders to join us for this special three-day Jubilee Year experience in Montgomery and Selma, Alabama, the cradle of the domestic slave trade, the Confederacy, and the Civil Rights Movement.
Our visits to the Equal Justice Initiative’s museum and memorials will deepen our understanding of the connection between the history of slavery and racial terror and the modern-day systems of mass incarceration and capital punishment. Through prayer, encounters with Civil Rights witnesses, and dialogue with fellow ministry leaders, we will discern our calling to advance truth-telling and healing and move our Church and country forward.
Interested?
Let us know today by filling out the interest form. You will be notified when registration officially opens.
Trip Details
Dates
Program begins: Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at 12 p.m. CT in Montgomery, AL
Program ends: Friday, November 7, 2025 at 12 p.m. CT in Montgomery, AL
Participants gather for a virtual pre-trip call a month before the trip and a virtual debrief call a month after.
Registration Fee: $650
Includes: all meals, ground transportation, museum entrance fees, speaker honorarium, virtual prep and debrief calls, historical interpretation, and trip facilitation.
Does not include: travel to and from Montgomery, lodging.
Lodging
All participants stay at a hotel in downtown Montgomery where the group meetings also take place. A room block will be secured at a discounted rate.
Travel
Participants are responsible for arranging their flights and transportation to and from downtown Montgomery. Taxis and ridesharing services are readily available at Montgomery Regional Airport (MGM). Alternatively, participants can fly into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) or Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM) and rent a car from there.
Facilitation
This special Jubilee Year delegation will be facilitated by experienced CMN staff. It will be the 10th delegation of national Catholic ministry leaders hosted by CMN since the inaugural trip in March 2022. Previous delegations included a group of U.S. bishops in collaboration with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, in March 2024.
In addition to leading the trip, CMN staff facilitate the in-depth group sharing times, using the restorative practice of circle process.
On this trip you will…
Further your knowledge of the history of the Civil Rights Movement where key events happened, with community members who were present.
Sites of the 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott
- Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and Dexter Parsonage | Young Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the Congregation from 1954 to 1960
Sites of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Marches for Voting Rights
- Crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma
- The Catholic City of St Jude that welcomed the 2,000 marchers on their last night before reaching the Montgomery State Capitol
- Meet with a “Foot Soldier” who shares her first-hand experience of participating in the March in 1965
Through the work of the Equal Justice Initiative, understand the connection between the history of slavery and racial terror, and the modern-day systems of mass incarceration and capital punishment.
- The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration
- The National Memorial for Peace and Justice: A sacred space for truth telling and reflection about lynching and its legacy
- The Freedom Monument Sculpture Park: Honoring the legacy of emancipated people
- Meet with an senior staff from Equal Justice Initiative
Pray and discern how Catholic ministry leaders can play a more active role in truth-telling to move our nation towards justice and healing.
- Encounters with local Catholic ministries, Resurrection Catholic Missions of the South and the Edmundite Missions in Selma, to learn about their long history and ongoing commitment to serving African American populations in the Deep South
- Mass, group prayer and meditation times
- In-depth sharing times with fellow national Catholic ministers, using the restorative practice of circle process
Our Guiding Questions
- What is the relationship between the nation’s past and modern-day systems of oppression, particularly related to the criminal legal system?
- What is required of the Church, its leadership, and its faithful in order to be ministers of hope and reconciliation?
- How can the Church and its members play a more active role in truth-telling and meaningful efforts that move our ministries, Church and country forward?