Date: April 7 – 18, 2025
Cost: $2750, plus cost of airfare to and from Paris, France
Registration deadline: March 1, 2025
Calais, France, is a migration hotspot that is relatively unknown to people in the United States. The situation in Calais bears striking resemblance to the dynamics at play at the United States-Mexico border. Thousands of people migrate to Calais in hopes of crossing the English Channel and entering the United Kingdom to find a better life.
During this pilgrimage, you will interact with various organizations that are doing justice and relief work among the migrant population in Calais:
- Project Play offers play therapy for children in refugee camps.
- Refugee Women’s Center cares for women and children in refugee camps.
- Maria Skobtsova House provides meals, prayers and a space for women and children to live.
You will experience crossing the English Channel, via ferry, and travel to London, England. There, you will meet with Peaceful Borders and learn about their advocacy work — from their beginnings in Calais to their present-day work in the United Kingdom.
You will also have an opportunity to meet with women who have completed their journeys to England and hear about their journeys and new lives in a new country. You will share laughter and tears with women who have experienced unimaginable trauma but who have not lost their humanity and joy.
More than anything else, you can expect to be changed. You cannot come and hear these stories of people’s trauma without being deeply affected. Bring an open heart, ready to be touched, and possibly even broken, by the strength and resilience of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
This pilgrimage can accommodate up to 14 people. Those who took part in Chapter 1 of the Christ at the Borders Pilgrimage in South Texas will receive priority registration.
The cost includes all transportation upon arrival in Paris, France, and throughout the pilgrimage, as well as lodging and meals. Participants will be responsible for their own travel arrangements and costs incurred during travel to and from Paris.
Sample itinerary—Christ at the Borders Pilgrimage, Chapter 2
Day 1
Arrive in Paris
Rest
Beginning the journey reflection
Day 2
Rest morning
Lunch together at the Paris Mennonite Centre
Drive to Calais
Day 3
Morning devotional
Lunch and learning at Maria Skobtsova House
Prayer with volunteer and guests of the house
Tour Calais
View border rocks and fences paid for by the British government
Day 4
Calais prayer walk
Meet with director of Secours Catholique, a day center for the migrant population and help lead an activity for the visitors.
Day 5
Visit and tour The Warehouse where many groups who support the migrant community are headquartered. Volunteer opportunities may happen here.
Meet the coordinator of the Refugee Women’s Centre. They distribute necessities to women and children at the camps and often refer guests to the Maris Skobtsova House.
Day 6
Travel to London via car ferry
Meet with the coordinators of Peaceful Borders
Day 7
Attend church service at Amott Road Baptist Church
Panel discussion with women who have crossed from the Maria Skobtsova House into the UK
Day 8
Travel to Canterbury
Meet with Rev. Jonathan Arnold, Executive Director of the Social Justice Network for the Church of England
Tour Canterbury Cathedral with Rev. Arnold
Choral Evensong at the Canterbury Cathedral
Return to London
Day 9
Morning in London
Return to France
Day 10
Travel to Paris
Debrief and reflection
Day 11
Morning devotional and prayer
Sightseeing in Paris
Day 12
Travel home
“Pilgrims set out not so much to assist strangers but to eat with them. They journey in the wisdom about transformation held in the Rwandan proverb ‘if you cannot hear the mouth eating, you cannot hear the mouth crying.’”
— Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice in “Practice of Pilgrimage” from Reconciling All Things
Related
An architecture of care in Calais
Immigraton and the Bible, Missio Dei
Journeys of hope “all through the night”
Say, “Bonjour!” to Joseph and Rachel
For more information regarding Just Peace Pilgrimages, please fill out the contact form below, including any comments.