Nina Koniuch cherishes her memory of carrying a banner to lead hundreds of her classmates during their procession on a fall day in 1975.
They walked through the streets of Welland and crossed the Allanburg Bridge into Thorold, before heading back to Notre Dame College School to celebrate mass.
They covered more than 20 kilometres while participating in that first pilgrimage.
Koniuch, then a Grade 9 student known as Nina Ventresca, says she was asked to carry the banner by Rev. Jim Mulligan, a Notre Dame teacher who started the tradition.
She says Mulligan, who died in 2022 at age 80, “got everyone involved in it with the school.”
“It was something they really promoted. It was going to be a fun event to spend time with your friends with some singing, some prayers, some exercise,” says Koniuch, who went on to become a registered nurse.
“Now years later, when I look back at it after I went off to do nursing, I realize the importance of the psycho-social, physical elements of that walk … I don’t think we realized the extent of what we did. It was just part of our school experience, thankfully, but I’m just glad we did it.”
Paul and Tina Turner, both retired Notre Dame teachers, also recall walking in that first pilgrimage, and many more since.
But Paul — who now serves as a Niagara Catholic District School Board trustee for Welland — says he “really didn’t understand the concept” when he participated in the first two pilgrimages while a student in grades 12 and 13.
At the time, he says, the events were “more about hanging around with my friends” than reflecting on social justice issues.
It wasn’t until he returned to the school a few years later as a teacher and eventually took over organizing the event that its purpose “became very significant.”
“It was more about understanding the complexity of a broken world,” Paul says, adding the pilgrimage and the message it is intended to share with students has become “the single most important event of our school year, I believe.”
Tina says she was a Grade 9 student when the first pilgrimage took place, years before she met and eventually married Paul.
“We walked a long way, but you were with your friends and singing songs … I remember it being very long, but very fun.”
She said the pilgrimages have always been part of a larger lesson, helping students understand the fundraising they do leading up to the event is “not charity, it’s justice.”
“The reason we’re walking is not just to raise money for poor people; it’s to create awareness that this is wrong — the fact that we’re so rich and they’re so poor is wrong,” Tina says. “That might not have clicked in in Grade 9, but by senior years, for sure, it became a very important message.”
Koniuch says she was recently reminded of her years as a Notre Dame student, and her part in that first pilgrimage, when someone posted to social media a photograph that showed her during the inaugural event.
“I thought, oh my goodness, that’s so long ago,” she said.
While attending a high school reunion a short time later, she said a friend suggested participating in this Sunday’s 50th anniversary pilgrimage.
“I’m bringing a couple of friends along with me from high school,” says Koniuch, who now lives in Barrie. “We’re doing a mini reunion.”
She says she’s also grateful they won’t have as far to walk as they did in 1975.
Although the pilgrimage route is now much shorter than it was — students and alumni will be walking south from the Smith Street school to Welland International Flatwater Centre and back, starting at 10 a.m. — its impact has grown significantly.
Paul Turner says the millions of dollars raised by the students over the years have changed the lives of people in developing countries, especially Yancana Huasy, a centre for children with special needs in Peru.
“I have this cross at our house that I got from a kid who was outside of a church in Canto Grande (in Peru) who used the services of Yancana Huasy. When he found out I was from Notre Dame he said, ‘Could you please tell the students they made a significant change in my life in a very positive way.’”
Notre Dame funds have also supported initiatives in Dominican Republic.
And other Niagara Catholic secondary schools have since launched pilgrimages over the years, supporting projects in Peru, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Guatemala, Dominica and Rwanda.
Carol Berkhout, who today co-ordinates Notre Dame’s pilgrimage, says the decades of local fundraising have been recognized by Development and Peace — Caritas Canada, which receives half the proceeds from the walks.
“They tell us we’re the longest running fundraiser event that they have,” she says, adding Development and Peace officials sent Notre Dame a “thank you video.”
“That legacy is there, and I think they would love to see the idea of the pilgrimage spread to other schools. I think they’re hoping they can get that example out to other schools across the country to do something similar,” Berkhout says, adding there are a few school boards that have launched similar initiatives.
Berkhout says Sunday’s milestone event will be held in solidarity with Niagara’s seven other Catholic secondary schools.
In addition to holding their own events, she says students from each of the schools will join Notre Dame students for their walk.
Berkhout says walking in solidarity and a candlelit service at the conclusion of the pilgrimage help inspire lasting memories for participants.
“We tend to feel so alone and it’s so easy to feel powerless, but there’s something empowering about doing something as a group. Just as the flame (of the candles) spreads throughout the gym, you realize when you do things with other people, it is possible to bring about change.”
Koniuch calls the pilgrimage a lasting legacy left behind by Mulligan.
“We call him Saint Mulligan in our house, because we’ve all admired everything about him,” she says. “The fact that this was his walk that he started and now it’s continued to grow and grow, it’s a testament to him.”