Journal

About the Pilgrimage

This is a one-bus pilgrimage and is sold out.

We will be joined by good Catholic folks from across the country and our chaplain will be Fr. Stephen Graeve, from the diocese of Lincoln Nebraska. Everyone is welcome!  (We had planned to have Fr. Steve Thomlison be our chaplain but we had to make a change. For more info, read below.)

Steve and Janet have partnered with the same Catholic Nazarene guide for all their trips over the last decade. Amer Shehadeh is a practicing Catholic and a walking encyclopedia. We consider him the finest Christian guide in the Holy Land–and we are not alone in that assessment. Having a Christian guide is very important.

Steve and Janet Ray plan and execute every aspect of this trip–personally. They are with you every step of the pilgrimage.

You’ll enjoy Steve and Janet’s trusted hotels and delicious meals including some amazing dinner experiences away from the typical hotel buffets.

Wine is provided with all dinners along with a wide range of cuisines to experience the Holy Land to it’s fullest.

You will receive their 110-page color handbook, daily YouTube videos so your family and friends can join you virtually every day and a fully edited movie of your trip upon your return home.

Steve personally teaches at the holy sites and shares experiences from over 150 previous trips to Israel and other biblical lands since 1995. We do everything we can to support the local Christians who only make up 1.5% of the population.

Daily Mass at the holiest sites and we pray every Mystery of the Rosary where it took place. Also, pray the Stations of the Cross on the way to Calvary and Mass at the Tomb.

Steve and Janet invite you to join this first-class and intimate pilgrimage. You will be with like-minded Catholics from around the country for a marvelous pilgrimage through the land of our Lord and Our Lady.

Our priest will be  Fr. Stephen Graeve.  Everyone loves his fine homilies, devout Masses, personal and jovial manner.

Concerning the change from Fr. Thomlison to Fr. Graeve…

Dear March Pilgrims to the Holy Land:

We are happy to inform you that the one-bus Holy Land pilgrimage in March 2019 has been sold out for some time. This is a perfect time of year for touring Israel and we expect a marvelous pilgrimage.

Janet and I want to update you one change that has just taken place. Originally our pilgrimage chaplain was to be Fr. Steve Thomlison who was our chaplain in Germany in 2017. Fr. Steve did a fantastic job for us. After that trip we invited him to our chaplain in March. 2018.

However, as of last week, he was forced to resign from his two parishes at the dictate of Bishop James Conley of Lincoln Nebraska. The stated reason was a “past incident in the military that was a concern to me and the Diocesan Review Board.” He is also said to be going through counseling for PTSD.

He told me he still wanted to be the chaplain for the trip but I told him under the current situation that would not be possible and I dismissed him as chaplain. Quality chaplains are essential on a pilgrimage and one who is required to resign from his parishes and who is under scrutiny by their Bishop will not be allowed to work with us on a pilgrimage. We will pray for him and hope the matters are cleared up quickly.

The good news is we were able to replace Fr. Thomlison immediately by another young priest from Lincoln who was highly recommended by one of our regular pilgrimage chaplains Fr. Scott Courtney who has traveled with us on thirteen pilgrimages.

I checked out Fr. Stephen Graeve and talked with him extensively last weekend. He has never been to the Holy Land — having had two trips canceled out from under him. We are happy to help him visit Israel for the first time. His parents attended one of our Holy Land pilgrimages a year ago and they are overjoyed their recently ordained son will get to visit the Land with us.

Fr. Gaeve is great with people and very devout. He is overjoyed to join us and we hope you will all welcome him with open arms. Thanks for understanding.

Steve and Janet Ray
Footprints of God Pilgrimages