CNA Staff, Nov 24, 2025 / 06:00 am
After a month and a half of walking an average of 17 miles a day, 67-year-old Father Gary Graf said he is starting to get “a little pain in one shin,” but his broken ribs are “getting much better.”
On Oct. 6, Graf, a Catholic priest from Chicago, began a journey on foot from Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home in Dolton, Illinois, to New York City to bring attention to the plight of immigrants amid the sometimes “inhumane” ways the Trump administration is treating them during its immigration enforcement actions.
He hopes to arrive at the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island, where his own great-grandparents entered the country as immigrants, by Dec. 2.
A few weeks ago, when visiting a parish in Indiana, he was invited to ride a horse. He fell off as it galloped and broke several ribs, which led him to take one day off to recover. That day, friends walked in his stead.
Graf, the pastor of the mostly Hispanic Our Lady of the Heights Catholic Church in Chicago Heights and a longtime member of Priests for Justice for Immigrants, has committed his life to helping immigrants. Ordained in 1984, he spent five years as a priest in Mexico serving a people “with whom I fell deeply in love.”
He told CNA that after initially feeling helpless watching the raids taking place against his beloved community in his hometown of Chicago, he “felt a call that was directly from above” to start walking.
Within weeks, he was on the road. He first spoke to an old friend about his idea, who immediately connected him with Lauren Foley, the head of a public relations firm. She “immediately embraced the idea,” and between her help and that of some “young people who understand social media,” a website as well as social media accounts were set up to chronicle his journey and to share the stories of immigrant families.
Of the immigrants on whose behalf he is walking, Graf said: “I look to help people who get up every single morning to work and raise their families. If I can do this small gesture on their behalf, what a blessing it is, what a privilege.”
Asked about the most profound insight he has gained thus far, Graf said his long days walking through the wide expanse of rural America have helped him understand better the ways of people who did not grow up in a multicultural city like he did.
“We have to reverently appreciate and try to connect with those whose lives we’re passing through,” he said.
As he has spoken with people in diners along his path, Graf has developed “a greater sensitivity,” discovering that “there’s not a lot of animosity against the immigrant.”
Many of the people he has met simply do not know any, he said.
Along the way, he has also experienced unity with Christians from other denominations, as well as with those without religious faith, who all care about the humane treatment of human beings.
“I have seen so much goodness,” he said. “This has brought so many of us together: people from many different faith traditions, or none. This is an opportunity given to us.”
During his quiet walks through rural farmland, he has marveled at the amount of labor it took to build the many roads, bridges, and overpasses he has seen.
“I’m sure the hands of many immigrants helped build these things,” he reflected.
Graf said he is delighted that both the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Pope Leo XIV addressed the immigration enforcement situation in the past week.
The U.S. bishops issued a special message during its Fall Plenary Assembly two weeks ago, calling for “a meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures.” The bishops argued that “human dignity and national security are not in conflict. Both are possible if people of goodwill work together.”
The pope echoed the bishops’ message. On Nov. 18, he acknowledged to reporters that “every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter.”
“But when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least — and there’s been some violence, unfortunately — I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said.”
“I think that I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them,” the pope said.
“Both the pope and the bishops used the word ‘indiscriminate’ to talk about the way people are being singled out and aggressively having their wrists zip-tied behind their backs as their faces are pushed to the ground in front of their children,” Graf said.
“It is indeed indiscriminate. This reflects dishonesty on the administration’s part,” he said. “They said they were going after the ‘worst of the worst,’ criminals, but this isn’t the case, at least in Chicago. They’re grabbing people first and asking questions later.”
“The violent way many of these people are being treated is amoral and un-American,” he said.
Like the pope and the American bishops, Graf said he hopes the federal government will establish a more humane immigration system that respects the dignity of immigrants as well as the rule of law and the country’s right to regulate its borders.
“I am not a politician,” he said. “My job is to mediate, to speak up, in God’s name, in the united name of the Church. But can we look for a way for those who are fulfilling their responsibilities; for them to one day receive the rights of citizens?”
The priest, who appeared on “EWTN News Nightly” in October, said he has been “impressed by the media” and is grateful his message is being spread.
“If we don’t hear the whole truth, the incredible ignorance and darkness we live in can paralyze us, and keep us from doing what we ought to do,” he said.
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He’s got nothing better to do? I’ll term this “Narcissists on Parade.”
Political posturing is no substitute for the Catholic Faith.
Observations and questions:
“He first spoke to an old friend about his idea, who immediately connected him with Lauren Foley, the head of a public relations firm.”
That is the most telling sentence in this account.
Shouldn’t he have first checked with his Bishop or ordinary and his parishioners or members of his order?
Is he getting paid his salary while on this vacation?
Who is “covering” for him while absent?
Who is paying Foley’s billings? Ad agencies are like accounting and law firms; they live and die with “billable hours”.
While on this sojourn, has informed the Bishop of the Diocese he entered and sought permission to he heard any confessions, visited any sick or dying, especially those might need anointing
It’s too bad he didn’t bring this little show to the diners I frequent, when I was there.
And finally.
“A few weeks ago, when visiting a parish in Indiana, he was invited to ride a horse. He fell off as it galloped and broke several ribs, which led him to take one day off to recover.”
It takes a lot more time than a day to recover from a broken rib than a day, especially when you are planning on returning to something as respirationally intense as extended walking. Bruised ribs are keeping a 197 pound NCAA runner-up wrestler from competing. He’s no wrestler and sanctimony isn’t sanctity.
My experience with a cracked rib was that sitting in the truck was much more painful that spending the rest of the day at the rodeo and walking around a huge outdoor crafts sale. I think sitting compresses the injured rib more. Trying to turn over in bed is even worse. Walking was fine.
We aren’t talking about leisurely meandering around a craft sale. We’re talking about walking miles a day, up hills and occasionally stepping it up for traffic.
Of course, but I think the principle may be the same.
I hope Fr.Graf fully heals from his injuries.
This Fr. Graf is from Chicago. He pastors a parish in Chicago. Cupich is his ordinary. This is not new. Not surprising. Same old, same old, boring.’
Interesting and brightly radiant would be a story of a charismatic Chicago priest in love with Christ, in love with His Bride the Church, and yes, saying Mass every sunrise and sunset, hearing confession in farm fields at all hours in the interim. Sleeping in the dirt and washing in a stream.
CVS – Catholic Virtue Signaling
I hope he learns more about flyover America on his walk. It sounds like he already has learned a little.
It can be tough and demanding but it sets the ball rolling. Walking for a cause is a form of preaching. Wishing the Reverend Gary Graf strength and stamina in his spiritual cum physical endeavors. God bless.
Since there is no such thing as “inhumane immigration enforcement,” this was a waste of time. How about hearing confessions of sinful immigrants who broke the law instead?
Interesting that he chose to walk from one blue state to another where the citizens are apt to applaud him. I dont approve of priests taking partisan political stands, or making theater of them either.
What doesnt this priest understand about the word illegal? We had 20 million of them force their way in here. As a result education and healthcare were downgraded for our own citizens. Wages depressed and housing costs rose. You simply dont admit 20 million people suddenly and expect no impact. Maybe this priest should spare some sympathy to those Americans who were raped or sex trafficked, or killed by non-english speaking truckers and the like. This is the damage done by 20 million. IMAGINE the reality that there are BILLIONS of people out there who would come here if they could. What sort of country would we have then? What quality of life for our kids? Likely one which exactly resembles the 3rd world gulags from which they fled. This priest is not doing American Catholics any favors. If he is so engaged in politics he should resign as a priest. Or return to work in Mexico, a country and a people he appears to love more than his own.
Why he is abandoning his parsihoners when they need him the most?
How fortuitous it is that he has friend who has a contact at a public relations firm! That always helps get media attention. He’ll enjoy a nice long late fall hike that he’s always wanted to take anyway. He’ll eat a lot of nice meals at the different stops while he grandstands. Cupich has his back, so everything will be cool back home.
That’s a long walk for the wrong reasons. Now he needs to turn 180° on his heel and walk back from New York to Illinois in protest against the inhumane illegal aliens who have broken our laws, plundered our immigration system, and flooded our country with drugs, murder and trafficking.
Just like his boss, this priest has an over-developed skill of “self-promotion.” Those who grandstand like he’s doing I have found to be frauds. My guess is that he’s a supporter of James Martin SJ.
Maybe even a “close associate”