Guadalupe Torch Run To Cross Archdiocese

PRISCILLA GREEAR, Staff Writer

Published: September 30, 2004

ATLANTA—Georgia runners are carrying a torch in October across the archdiocese from Alabama to South Carolina in a religiously inspired pilgrimage from Mexico City to New York City honoring Hispanic immigrants.

The seventh annual Guadalupe Torch Run, organized by the Tepeyac Association in conjunction with the Archdiocese of New York, is a traditional religious pilgrimage that begins at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City on Oct. 10. It passes through 70 dioceses and ends at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York on Dec. 12, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The runners will carry an original copy of the Guadalupe image. Last year over 5,000 youth helped to carry the torch as a symbol of faith and hope. In the Atlanta Archdiocese some 12,000 people participated in events surrounding the torch run, including Anglos, Hispanics and immigrants from a variety of other nations.

This year archdiocesan Catholics will be among the runners as the event passes, rain or shine, over 280 miles in North Georgia through 33 counties and cities from Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25, through the first Sunday of Advent, Nov. 28.

The Tepeyac Association this year set the theme as marching for the dignity of a people divided by a border. However, Leonardo Jaramillo, archdiocesan director of Hispanic youth and young adult ministry, said the theme in the archdiocese will be a “walk for the dignity of a people united in faith.”

“We wish to look for the unity of the church above any other thing,” he said, “to unite the communities with the symbol of the Virgin and to support an international initiative.”

The project grew out of the Centro Guadalupano established by the Archdiocese of New York in 1997 to show more solidarity and advocacy for the Hispanic community.

On Thanksgiving the Georgia portion of the run begin on the Alabama border at West Point where 300 youth will present the torch. There will be a small outdoor liturgy off U.S. Highway 29 at the Georgia/Alabama border led by Father Jose Duvan, priest liaison for the Atlanta archdiocesan Hispanic Apostolate, followed by the run at 9 a.m. Father Duvan will carry the torch for the first mile. The route will continue up U.S. 29 to San Felipe de Jesus Mission in Forest Park where it will stop for the day at 7 p.m.

On Friday, Nov. 26, the run will resume at 7 a.m. The runners are scheduled to arrive at Our Lady of the Americas Mission in Doraville at 11 a.m. before continuing on at

4 p.m. toward St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Smyrna, with an arrival there around 7 p.m.

On Saturday, Nov. 27, the runners will depart from St. Thomas the Apostle at 7 a.m. and arrive at St. Michael Church in Gainesville at 7 p.m.

On Sunday, Nov. 28, the group will leave St. Michael at 7 a.m. and head up U.S. Highway 123 until they arrive at the South Carolina border.

Each year the archdiocese plans a different route to allow different churches to participate. When the group arrives, each church will host a Mass and fiesta, which all are welcome to attend.

There are expected to be about 100 runners each day, each running about one to three miles, and all are welcome to run alongside the torch bearer for any church-to-church stretch of the route. To cover event costs, runners are asked to contribute $10 at the destination church for the Tepeyac Association. There will be two buses traveling alongside the runners to drop off and pick up runners along the route, and there will be a police escort blocking traffic. Spanish radio stations will broadcast en route.

Jaramillo believes it is a particularly meaningful event for Mexican participants, but encourages all to join in solidarity with all Hispanic immigrants.

“What I’ve seen, especially with the Mexican immigrants, is that they feel visited by the Virgin of Guadalupe, who comes from Mexico running to visit all her children around the country,” he said. “We invite the entire community to participate in the race, this pilgrimage. The Virgin of Guadalupe helps everybody to keep searching for unity and to keep growing in faith.”

Jaramillo said this year the archdiocese is hoping for 30,000 participants. He recalled how they ran in the rain last year around Gainesville.

“It was 10 hours of rain. Increíble. We weren’t able to stop. We were all happy running, dancing. It’s a good opportunity for interaction among the communities, 12 hours of sharing together.”

For information on the activities at San Felipe de Jesus Mission call Father Jose Duvan at (404) 675-0540; at Our Lady of the Americas Mission call Father Fabio Sotelo Peña at (770) 454-8437; at St. Thomas the Apostle Church call Father Jaime Molina at (770) 432-8579; or at St. Michael Church call Father Victor Reyes at (770) 534-3338. For information on running, call Leonardo Jaramillo at (404) 885-7412. For general information visit www.tepeyac.org.