Family charters a bus to worship at two Jubilee Year pilgrimage sites

Memorial Day is over. Students are out of school for summer break. You know what that means?

Road trip!

As you plan summer getaways and day trips, here’s a suggestion, modeled in a big way by one family: Make a pilgrimage!

Embrace the theme of this Jubilee Year in the Church and be a Pilgrim of Hope.

Dr. Tom Hejkal’s extended family recently worshiped together at two of the designated pilgrimage sites in the Archdiocese of Omaha: St. Augustine Indian Mission Church in Winnebago and Immaculate Conception Church in St. Helena.

Other archdiocese pilgrimage sites are St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha, St. Anthony Church in Cedar Rapids, Holy Family Shrine in Gretna, Assumption of the Virgin Mary Church in Lynch, Immaculata Monastery in Norfolk and St. Benedict Center in Schuyler.

On a rainy day in early spring, the Hejkals filled a chartered bus with 33 people, including four adult children, 18 grandchildren, some in-laws and a special guest. 

Dr. Hejkal and his wife, Rita, are considering visiting more of the pilgrimage sites before the Jubilee Year ends on Jan. 6 – possibly including another family day trip this fall.

Rita was not able to go on the spring bus pilgrimage as planned, but a daughter who was not expected to go filled in for her, Apostolic Oblate Monica Hejkal with the Pro Sanctity Movement in Elkhorn.

Father Frank Baumert, who had traveled before on a Hejkal family bus trip, also made the pilgrimage and offered spiritual support, leading prayer and creating a private space at the back of the bus for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Father Frank Baumert COURTESY PHOTO

The Hejkals decided to make a pilgrimage at the encouragement of the now-retired Archbishop George J. Lucas, who spoke about the Jubilee Year at a Pro Sanctity event.

“We thought it would be great to take the whole family on a pilgrimage,” Dr. Hejkal said.

The family had chartered a bus for several family vacations, including a trip to Colorado that included Father Baumert, who is now senior associate pastor of the Catholic Parishes in Partnership family of eight rural parishes. 

The Hejkals also took family bus excursions to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Ozark Mountains. Traveling together in one vehicle “makes it more of a shared experience,” Dr. Hejkal said. “It’s been quite a neat family tradition.”

On this trip, they rode together on a bus marked for the University of Nebraska at Omaha Mavericks.

As on their other bus rides, family members enjoyed the scenery and each other’s company along the way. They talked and played games as they traveled about 90 miles north along the Missouri River, from Omaha to Winnebago, then another 80 or so miles farther north to St. Helena, near the South Dakota border.

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But as they traveled on pilgrimage, they also prayed and, thanks to Father Baumert, had a ready opportunity for Confession, fulfilling some of the conditions for a plenary indulgence during the Jubilee Year.

Father Baumert started the pilgrimage adventure with a blessing and led The Jubilee Prayer. 

Along the way, he cleared the space in the back of the bus for Confessions. The vehicle was big enough and noisy enough to allow for privacy, Dr. Hejkal said.

The family patriarch modified a Litany of Hope to include the patron saints of those on board the bus. Grandchildren had a special role in leading the prayers, stepping up to a microphone for an invocation like “Holy Mary, Mother of Hope,” to which others on board responded, “Pray for us.”

The grandchildren each had a line to pray, their grandfather said, “and they like, of course, to speak into the microphone.”

Some of the younger pilgrims sign a guest book at St. Augustine. COURTESY PHOTO

On their excursions, the family has employed the same bus driver, Allen Stuart, for the past five years or so. They’ve developed a friendship with Stuart and his wife, who joined them on the pilgrimage, though neither one is Catholic.

When the family arrived at St. Augustine, Father Mark Bridgman explained some of the rich history of the church, which was founded in 1909 by St. Katharine Drexel. He showed how Native American culture is included in the church furnishings, decorations and stained glass windows.

Father Bridgman, who serves as associate pastor of St. Augustine and 11 other parishes in the Holy Apostles Parish Family, also concelebrated Mass with Father Baumert.

A Winnebago cafe provided box lunches for the pilgrims.

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The Hejkals then headed to the village of St. Helena, with a population of about 90.

The towering Immaculate Conception Church, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and its steeple stood out above neighboring farm fields. But the Gothic Revival-style structure also wowed the family because it was “fabulously ornate” and beautiful, especially its Stations of the Cross, Dr. Hejkal said.

COURTESY PHOTO

COURTESY PHOTO

Even the surrounding landscape, he said, was beautiful.

The church is among a dozen listed under the Our Catholic Family group of parishes.

Father Baumert again led the family in prayer at the church before the Hejkal group returned to Omaha.

Once home, the family could begin planning their next pilgrimage for the Jubilee Year.

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