Reflection/Script

WELCOME 

The history of our friendship with God is always linked to particular places which take on an intensely personal meaning; we all remember places, and revisiting those memories does us much good. - Laudato Si’ # 84

Welcome to Sister Dorothy Stang, SNDdeN – a Pilgrimage of Hope and Courage, in her hometown of Dayton OH. The idea for this pilgrimage had its roots in the annual three-day pilgrimage that occurs every July in Brazil to honor Sister Dorothy. When Pope Francis declared 2025 as a Jubilee Year of Hope and invited us all to be pilgrims of hope; coinciding with the 10th Anniversary of Laudato Si’, an inspired partnership was born. The pilgrimage was created through the collaboration of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (SNDdeN), Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School (CJ), and the Marianist Environmental Education Center (MEEC). 

Throughout the pilgrimage, we will share prayerful reflections on the life of Sister Dorothy Stang, most adapted from the book A Journey of Courage by Michele Murdock. You will have a part in the prayer. The responses for each site are found on your Pilgrimage Guide. There are also general reflection questions inviting you to reflect, personally and with others, between sites.  

May we be open to how Sister Dorothy’s life is inspiring our actions for justice, peace and environmental care. 

Call to Prayer:  
We join together as pilgrims of hope and courage, inspired by the 2025 Jubilee Year, and remembering the lives and legacies of Pope Francis and Sister Dorothy. We unite in prayer and solidarity with the cries of the earth and of those made poor.  We ask Sister Dorothy and Pope Francis to pray with us, and the Spirit to inspire our reflection and transformation. 

Sister Dorothy Stang, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, was a woman of deep faith - a Gospel woman, who allowed the Word of God to shine light on the lived reality of her people and their environment, the beloved rainforest. The wellbeing and goodness of the earth, all creatures and creation itself was one interconnected web of relationships for Dorothy.  The slogan adopted by the movement in response to the assasination of rubber tree tapper and environmental activist, Chico Mendes, was dear to her heart: “The death of the forest is the death of us all”

In the global Jubilee Year of Hope (2025), Pope Francis invited us to be Pilgrims of Hope, renewing our spiritual focus of encounter, reconciliation and restoration.  (This will) “be a Holy Year marked by hope that does not fade, our hope in God.  May it help us to recover the confident trust that we require, in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships, in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation” - Pope Francis’ message for the 2025 Jubilee Year, Pilgrims of Hope, May 9, 2024. 

In this 20th anniversary year since Sister Dorothy’s martyrdom, we journey through the places and touchstones of her life and join our prayers for the Amazon peoples and ecosystems and all who are oppressed and threatened in our city and throughout our world. As pilgrims of hope, we ask for the inspiration and courage to respond to our Gospel call individually and in communion with one another and the vision of Pope Francis.    

Together we pray:
We remember and pray with the life of Dorothy Stang. We ask for courage to respond to the Gospel call in our day and time.  “We come together to take charge of this (Dayton) home that has been entrusted to us . . In union with all creatures, we journey through this land seeking God” (Laudato Si’ # 244)