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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Pilgrims recall early Jesuit history


Jenny Cornutt, a freshman at Gonzaga University, carries the rustic cross, leading walkers on the 38th annual pilgrimage Saturday to the Cataldo mission. About 200 students and staff retraced the steps of early Jesuit missionaries,  hiking about nine miles through the hills along the Coeur d'Alene River to the mission. 
 (Photos by JESSE TINSLEY / The Spokesman-Review)

Gonzaga University freshman Kevin O’Toole knew why he was among some 200 GU “pilgrims” who walked nine miles Saturday in the footsteps of the Rev. Joseph Cataldo, the Jesuit missionary for whom the Mission of the Sacred Heart at Cataldo is named.

“It’s cool to go with people of the same faith and to share your religious values,” the Napa, Calif., native said. “That’s part of why I came to Gonzaga. It’s a community.”

But O’Toole didn’t know what to expect of the Idaho event. Like many of the students who hiked from the Bumblebee area north of Enaville to the Cataldo mission, O’Toole was new to the surroundings. The Gonzaga pilgrimage has been teaching young Catholics about their faith, and the 19th-century missionaries who brought it here, for more than three decades.

Marching behind a rustic wooden cross, students, faculty and alumni moved down the North Fork Coeur d’Alene River and along a goat path of a road with spectacular views of the main Coeur d’Alene River.

The mountaintop vista was “amazing,” said sophomore Mike Kelsey, one of a number of student workers who helped conduct Saturday’s event. “It was breathtaking.”

And the weather was perfect, with temperatures in the mid-70s and a light breeze, Kelsey said.

About halfway to the mission, the group stopped along a gravel-shored stretch of the Coeur d’Alene River to relax and eat lunch. No one seemed tired, and some had enough energy to swim across a slough while others walked around to a point they insisted was more tranquil. Peter Oven quickly inflated a rubber raft, one puff at a time.

Those who swam had to swim back for their lunches.

Anna Sullivan, of Kirkland, Wash., was pleasantly surprised that her sandwich wasn’t squished in the ROTC baggage van. She went on the pilgrimage at the urging of her parents, who did it every year they attended Gonzaga.

“It’s pretty bomb,” she said.

Brandon Garnreiter, of Scottsdale, Ariz., agreed the event was “a lot of fun” even though he’s “never been one for a lot of outdoor exercise.”

“I’m really looking forward to seeing the mission,” Garnreiter said.

New friends Megan Haas and Mary Butterworth took their own picture with a camera extended at arm’s length.

After eating, the group sang about being called to serve one another and to walk humbly with God. They also heard a talk about the Rev. Anthony Ravalli, who designed the Cataldo mission that Coeur d’Alene tribal members built in 1848.

An Italian scholar of many talents, Ravalli left his family and professorial career to spend 40 years as Jesuit missionary to the Flathead, Coeur d’Alene and other tribes in the Inland Northwest, the Rev. Tom Kraft told the GU pilgrims. Even after a series of strokes paralyzed Ravalli in the 1860s, he continued to serve tribal members – who carried him from place to place – with Masses and medicine, Kraft said.

At the mission, the Rev. Rick Ganz pointed out the art and workmanship and invited the elbow-to-elbow students to glance around the sanctuary during a prayer.

“Catholic space is meant to be distractive,” Ganz said. “Every distraction is holy.”

He cited Ravalli’s unrestored paintings of heaven and hell, with the altar rail between them to represent the proximity of God and a choice to be made.

Ganz also pointed to a pair of drawings – of St. Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Society of Jesus in the 16th century, and St. Francis Xavier. They were college roommates “just like you,” Ganz said.

“You could do the same,” he said. “What zeal is in your heart?”