I had an opportunity this past Saturday to join my friend Tammie and some of her family for the closing activities for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s “Pilgrimage for Vocations” week up in Chimayo. Tammie has a daughter that participated in the week’s event, and for me, it provided me with an opportunity to have a little “insider time” in life up at Catholic Chimayo.

Pilgrimages for Vocations is a pilgrimage event completed in early June by northern New Mexico Catholics who desire to pray for their priests and the religious lives of their communities as they hike 100 miles during a week. These pilgrims leave from one of five locations at the start of the week- Albuquerque, Chama, Costilla, Estancia, or Bernal- and conclude their walk in Chimayo on Saturday morning, where an outdoor service commemorates the event. Groups hiking the pilgrimage cover about 20 miles a day, walking from before sunrise until around noon each day. Families and church organizations provide the pilgrim groups with food, and each night, the hikers sleep in parish halls or school gyms.

Pilgrimages for Vocations began in 1973, and is a significant event each year on the archdiocese calendar.

For me, it meant driving up to Chimayo and waiting by the church to watch several of the pilgrim groups arrive. When they did, each group, under the serene strums of acoustic guitar music, descended pilgrim by pilgrim down the staircase under the roadside arch, past the gift store and the collected throng of family members and friends surrounding the steps, and went into the courtyard and then the sanctuary of the church.

When all five groups were in the church, family and friends packed into the doorway at the back of the sanctuary and listened and took video and photos as a series of worship songs were sung within. The church was then exited and everyone relocated to the outdoor worship area behind it, reached by descending ramps or staircases into the communal and garden area below the sanctuary site. The sizable body of guests took seats in portable chairs that ringed around the central platform. Pilgrims sat together in groups, making up a good quarter to a third of the audience.

A service commenced. Priests and speakers spoke, songs were sung, pilgrims rose in lines and approached and kissed the four crosses standing by the center platform that had been carried by each group through the week to this service. Speakers spoke. Liturgies were said, and communal prayers prayed. People hugged here and there.

I appreciated the spirit of the event and the connection of the people to each other. I even knew a good number of the worship songs they sung together, songs used in my own faith tradition. But I also was unfamiliar with quite a bit of what was going on, and after a short while, I excused myself and went back up to spend some time in the sanctuary itself, and its surrounding structures.

A biker group from Texas rumbled into the site an hour into the service to tour the church. I found a cantina open by the church that sold candles, a range of candies and snacks, cold drinks, and containers to put holy dirt in. I visited the gift shop near the top of the staircase and considered buying a tin retablo or a tin dirt container as a souvenir. I visited a newer gift shop/museum and scanned artwork and books related to the site. I talked to a lady and her husband selling Chimayo chiles by the road across from the church, and bought a small bag of chile spices for sauces. I walked on up the road and visited Santo Niño Chapel and the Santo Niño Gallery with its prayer barn. I then stopped in at El Potrero Trading Post (Vigil’s Store) where I bought an RC soda to counter the morning’s heat. In time, I heard that the service was ending, and I rejoined Tammie and her group in the outdoor conference area.

Several in that group had complete the pilgrimage, so a group lunch was desired as a celebration. We went in Espanola to El Paragua, where we ate a fine New Mexican meal together (shredded beef enchiladas here- Christmas- and the sopapillas were as good as any I’ve ever had).

After lunch, I was happy to be able to backtrack up the road a few streets from the restaurant and visit the one old Spanish church I had been hoping to visit for a few months after learning about it.

Iglesia de Santa Cruz de la Cañada is a Spanish colonial church that was rebuilt into its present appearance in 1733.

When I arrived at the church, it was clear a fancy wedding in the chapel was just ending, so I accepted that I would just take some exterior pictures and then leave. But then no one else came out of the church after a short time, so I decided to look into it.

I am glad I did. The sanctuary, spacious and carefully cared for, gave me a feeling that I had entered something just as inspiring and as impressive as a European cathedral. It is both a beautiful and august church.

I enjoyed learning some more about Chimayo and the Santuario and about people who make northern New Mexico Catholic churches home. I enjoyed an enjoyable meal at a good Espanola restaurant. I enjoyed getting some sweet Chimayo chile I enjoyed in some pasta at home. I was most grateful to get to see the Santa Cruz face to face.

This one was a most enjoyable day trip.

El Santuario de Chimayó, a National Historic Landmark, is famous for the story of its founding and as a contemporary pilgrimage site. It receives almost 300,000 visitors per year and has been called “no doubt the most important Catholic pilgrimage center in the United States.” – Wikipedia