Canadian couple organizes yearly pilgrimage to Rome for families

Published: 2007-04-11

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As 35,000 people streamed out of St. Peter's Square after the pope's general audience in search of shade and water, one couple sat peacefully in the shade of a marble pillar looking completely undisturbed by the crowd. After seven Easter pilgrimages to Rome, Canadians Peter and Muriel Brown are unflappable. "Our life is nonstop adventures," Muriel Brown said April 11 while fanning herself with a piece of paper. The Browns made their first Easter pilgrimage to Rome in 2000. The family of five wanted to celebrate the jubilee year by walking through the Holy Door, the bronze door normally sealed by bricks, except during a holy year. Since then they have been working with the St. Joseph Family Center in St. Nicholas, Prince Edward Island, to organize a yearly pilgrimage to Rome for families. This year, the Browns came to Rome with two sets of pilgrims. One group, made up of mothers and daughters, included 28 people. The second group, made up of fathers and sons, had 60 people.

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