A Chicago Priest Is Walking 800 Miles for America’s Undocumented Families

Starting from Pope Leo’s childhood home, Fr. Gary Graf’s pilgrimage to the Statue of Liberty is a prayer for compassion and immigration justice.

Father Gary Graf has embarked on a remarkable pilgrimage for immigrant justice, walking from Dolton, Illinois — Pope Leo XIV’s childhood hometown — all the way to New York Harbor.

The 67-year-old Chicago Heights pastor will trek more than 800 miles in about 50 days, beginning at the pope’s childhood home and aiming to end at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

His journey’s purpose is to lift up the plight of undocumented families and to remind America of its heritage of welcoming the stranger.

Graf says he is undertaking this long walk to “mobilize Americans from every state to demand that compassion, humanity and helping hands be restored to the immigration process.”

As a priest active in the Priests for Justice for Immigrants coalition, he feels he cannot stay silent while migrant children and parents suffer.

Before he set out on Oct. 6, a small crowd of supporters gathered to bless his departure outside the modest house where Pope Leo grew up — a fitting sendoff for a journey rooted in faith and moral conviction.

On the eve of his departure, Graf painted a heartbreaking picture of what drives him.

“Children taken from parents, little ones weeping in fear, families torn apart again and again… We are left with the same truth. There must be a better way,” he lamented, denouncing the toll of current immigration enforcement.

“To tear families apart is to wound the very heart of God,” Graf added, calling such policies “immoral and un-American.”

In his eyes, the separation of families and harsh detention of immigrants is an intolerable assault on fundamental values – one that his pilgrimage seeks to confront through compassion.

It is no coincidence that Father Graf began his trek at Pope Leo’s former home.

In the five months since his election, Pope Leo XIV — the first American pontiff — has made the cause of immigrant families his most vocal priority. He has urged the Church to “speak with one voice” in defense of the undocumented and insisted that welcoming migrants remain “at the forefront” of the Church’s agenda.

According to Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, for Leo, showing mercy to immigrants “has to be front and center right now. This is the issue of the day.”

The pope’s passionate advocacy forms a powerful backdrop to Graf’s journey, infusing it with a broader spiritual significance.

Graf’s pilgrimage vividly embodies that call.

As he set out, he noted that “this country, from Pope Leo’s childhood home right here to Ellis Island in New York, reminds us that immigrants and their families built our nation. They deserve not bullets, night sticks and tear gas, but rather compassion, dignity and respect.”

With each mile, he is carrying that truth to Lady Liberty — a truth not being told in today’s climate.

By walking in solidarity with the oppressed, Graf is inviting Americans to step up and speak out, living the very message of mercy that Pope Leo has championed.

For the next several weeks, Father Graf will trek roughly 20 miles a day, hoping to reach Ellis Island by December 1.

There at journey’s end, he plans to join people of many faiths in an interfaith prayer service for immigrant families at the Statue of Liberty — a symbolic culmination at America’s historic gateway for newcomers.

In Graf’s words, “all immigrants are not strangers, but rather our brothers, sisters, sons and daughters,” and the nation must “welcome people of good will and embrace them and give them a way forward.”

With every determined step from the pope’s hometown to Lady Liberty, this humble priest is putting faith into action — reminding all of us of the better way of compassion and hope that lies at the heart of Pope Leo’s vision.

Letters from Leo is open to anyone who wants to be informed and inspired by our pope — and to turn that inspiration into action that leaves America and the world more just, less cold, and more alive with hope.

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Thank you for reading. I’ll see you on the road.