Pilgrims Progress…or lack thereof

by friar Bob Roddy, OFM Conv.

Our band of caravans left Mount Saint Francis at 9:30 am on Friday, July 19, bound for Chicago to meet many of our remaining pilgrims for the Pilgrimage to Ireland. Some of us were apprehensive as there had been a major software glitch that was wreaking havoc on airline travel the day before (and we would later discover was still causing problems). Several people kept checking our flight status and our flight was still listed as “On Time.” Despite the enormous amount of construction along our route to Chicago O’Hare Airport, we arrived at 4:30 pm and were allowed to check our bags and receive our boarding passes and seat assignments without having to have the entire group present.

Unfortunately six of our fellow pilgrims who were supposed to join us in Chicago ran into a number of obstacles. Two of the six would not be able to join us in Dublin until Sunday morning. I suggested that the majority of the group go through airport security and I would remain for the four pilgrims who were slated to join us. Two people in our group offered to stay with me but I assured them that I would be fine on my own and that I would see them “on the other side,” soon.  Sadly as the day grew into night, there were fewer personnel from American Airlines available to staff the ticket counters. (We could not utilize the self-check in and bag drop because of the type of tickets we had.) In one case three of our pilgrims waited for nearly an hour for an available agent who was dealing with a challenging situation for a family that had been stranded in Chicago. Once the agent became available, she quickly got our crew checked in. She even wheeled one of our group through Security, along with two other pilgrims. Another pilgrim said that she was comfortable waiting to check her bag and receive her boarding pass, so I cleared security, which was a madhouse, but a quickly moving madhouse. I’m used to obtaining TSA Pre-Check so I had to remind myself of all the protocols needed but I made it through the line with no problems.

By this time most of the restaurants in our concourse were either closed or closing, but I pushed on to meet the rest of the group and issued a long sigh as I sighted them. Judy Ribar was kind enough to get me a bottle of water and offered me some snacks that she was taking on the flight. (Isn’t sodium a food group?)

We boarded our flight, settled in our seats and prepared for take off. Shortly after the Captain greeted us over the PA system, he had to announce that there was a problem that had shown up during the ground crew’s final check of the plane. We were scheduled to depart Chicago at 10:25 pm, and it was not 10:45 pm. Two hours later, the problem had been resolved and we were on our way.

I was so tired that I slept through take-off! Either the seating space in the back of the plane (think the “steerage” from the film, “Titanic,” but without the dancing) had gotten way smaller or I had expanded a bit. I’m sticking with the former insight.

My sister had given me one of these special pillows that was supposed to keep my neck braced while I attempted to sleep on the flight. Naturally, I had not done a trial run prior to the flight, so I had quite a time figuring out how to put the blasted thing on. I hope that there isn’t a Tik Tok of YouTube video of my sorry attempts to wrap it around my neck. It kind of worked, but I was too tired to care.

Arrival in Dublin was a moment of jubilation for our pilgrims and fellow passengers, some of whom were coming to Dublin for the All Ireland Hurling  competition that is taking place Sunday afternoon. (It turns out that the parish our friars have custody of in Dublin, the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a short walk from the venue where this event will take place.

Our Pilgrimage Escort, Conor and bus driver David, met us at the airport and took us to the Grand Canal Hotel, where we met Fr. Steve McMichael. I later made contact with a good friend, Len (Ellen) Browne, who is a fellow pilgrim. Len and I went to Benedictine College in Atchison, KS at the same time. Her parents were from Ireland and she has been here several times but “I’ve never made a pilgrimage here.” We caught up with a drink in the hotel bar, and I began to accomplish my goal of sampling one each of the sixteen craft beers on tap—this will be a goal that I will sadly fall short of. Here’s the kicker, one of the brands is “Franciscan.”
Here are a few photos of our group as we board the bus and as we listen to Conor give us an overview of our time together.