The sun shone down on the participants in the Te Awa Kairangi (Hutt River) prayer walk, magnifying the beauty of God’s creation as they reflected on Laudato Si’ and their Christian duty to care for the environment.
Helene Doyle, one of the organisers of the river prayer walk, said that this was what they hoped for when they put together the event.
“Our main goals were two-fold: celebrate the season of creation, and promote the message of Laudato Si’, making it a more visible event within our parishes, and bear[ing] witness to the outer world that Christians care for creation and the environment, because we are Christians and God calls us to be kaitiaki of his creation.”
Mrs Doyle said that she heard about a similar walk in Plimmerton; an event that was about the seven-day creation story.
“I thought we could try to do something similar in Lower Hutt involving the churches that normally take part in the Good Friday Walk of Witness, but it rapidly morphed into a whole river project involving the Catholic parishes along the river,” she said.
The number of participants ebbed and flowed in each of the ten legs that they had mapped out. The walk started in Harcourt Park and ended at Petone Foreshore.
“Between 20 and 30 were present for the Mass at Harcourt Park, with a dozen children from St Joseph’s School (Upper Hutt) walking the first leg, along with as many adults. When they left, we were then joined by some families from St Brendan’s School (Heretaunga) for part of the second and third legs. From Silverstream, our numbers dwindled a bit to about six, until we were joined by St Peter and Paul Youth group members and other participants,” Mrs Doyle said.
This was the second year of the river prayer walk. Last year’s walk was more muted because of Covid, she said.
Catherine Gibbs, another organiser, said that this initiative was also timely and relevant with the local body elections just around the corner, and the debate on the Three Waters reform programme.
She added that the process of organising the walk was very collaborative, as each of organisers took responsibility within their parish communities.
“The prayer booklet included poems and prayers composed by locals, friends, organising team members, as well as relevant quotes from Scripture and Laudato Si’,” Mrs Gibbs said.
“We also carried flat river stones with quotes that were placed randomly along the river trail, for anyone walking along [to] by chance discover a reflection to ponder,” she said.
Another organiser, Helen Willberg, added that there was singing, and they carried ribbons which were blessed at the different churches along the walk.
Mrs Doyle added that the children from different schools that joined them also shared reflections that they (the schoolchildren) prepared.
She said that the participants told her that they had enjoyed themselves and will be encouraging people to join next year.
Reader Interactions