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 year to “proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and letting the oppressed go free.” A year that proclaims liberation, conversion, and reconciliation to mark a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God.
We will answer the Holy Father’s call to be Pilgrims of Hope by exploring the heart of racial violence and resilience and discerning — through encounter, prayer, and dialogue — how we as Catholics leaders are called to play a more active role in meaningful efforts to move our country forward.
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
Registration Fee
Tentative: $650
Includes: all meals, ground transportation, museum entrances, speaker honorarium.
Does not include: air travel to Montgomery, Atlanta, or Birmingham airports, transportation from and to the airport, lodging.
Lodging
All participants stay at a hotel in downtown Montgomery where the group meetings also take place.
Travel
Participants are responsible for arranging their flights and transportation to and from downtown Montgomery. Taxis and ridesharing services are readily available at the Montgomery Regional Airport (MGM).
It is also possible to fly to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) or Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM) and rent a car from there. Please be aware that the Atlanta airport is in the Eastern Time zone and Montgomery, AL is in the Central Time zone.
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
- Meet with a life-long Civil Rights activist who participated in the March
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 attorney from Equal Justice Initiative
Pray and discern how Catholics can play a more active role in truth-telling to move our nation towards justice and healing.
- Encounters with Catholic ministries: Resurrection Catholic Missions of the South & the Edmundite Missions in Selma
- Mass, group prayer and meditation times
- In-depth sharing times with fellow national Catholic ministers
Why we do it
Since 2022, CMN has hosted 8 delegations of national Catholic ministry leaders in Montgomery and Selma, AL, including. During three days, participants witness landmarks of racial violence and resilience in Montgomery and Selma — the cradle of the domestic slave trade, of the Confederacy, and of the Civil Rights movement.
Participants unpack how the legacy of our nation’s history of slavery, lynching, and segregation is manifest in contemporary injustices, such as mass incarceration, capital punishment, and the racial disparities embedded in them. Through encounter, prayer, and dialogue, participants discern how Catholic leaders are called to answer these 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 reconciliation?
- How can the Church and its members play a more active role in truth-telling and meaningful efforts that move our ministries, communities, Church and country forward?