Butte Catholic parishioners journey to Paris for a Pilgrimage of Peace

BUTTE — More than 100 parishioners from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Butte lately returned from a “Pilgrimage of Peace” to Paris, France.

For the priest guiding the best way, Father Patrick Beretta, it was a chance to indicate off his hometown. The journey was impressed by Beretta’s homily on the restoration of Notre Dame, the enduring cathedral that was ravaged by hearth in 2019.

“I spoke about this epic of rebuilding it, restoring it, and some miraculous developments that took place in the restoration of the cathedral,” Beretta stated.

Joel and Kaila Patton have been among the many parishioners who made the journey.

WATCH: Members of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Butte traveled to Paris for a Pilgrimage of Peace

Butte Catholic parishioners journey to Paris for a pilgrimage of peace

“It made me feel like we’re just all connected together,” Joel Patton stated. “It really showed how universal the Catholic faith is…and that we could be in Notre Dame or, you know, in any of the other churches there, and you can really see how it’s universal.”

Along with visits to historic websites, parishioners additionally received to see the very neighborhood the place Beretta grew up along with his siblings and Irish and Italian mother and father.

“My parents met right in the middle between Ireland and Italy, and they had a family in the city of love, which is a great place to have a family,” Beretta stated.

Paris provided quiet solo journeys to cafes for the adventurous newlyweds who married final fall. I requested the couple if taking a trip with 100 different Butte residents to Paris felt like their honeymoon.

“It was like our honeymoon, yep,” Joel and Kaila Patton stated.

Paris can be the place Beretta was impressed to enter the priesthood. During the Pilgrimage of Peace, he led Mass in a number of historic church buildings, together with his childhood church. Despite a lot of the companies being held in French, Kara Remsen stated the Butte group was nonetheless capable of take part.

“We were able to know what was going on even though we don’t speak the language…they kneeled at the same time,” Remsen stated. “They had kind of the same tunes to the songs. It was really special to know that we were still involved even though we were overseas.”

Remsen made the journey along with her mom. During the journey, a public spat between President Trump and Pope Leo XIV made headlines all around the world. While many within the group weren’t following the information, Remsen stated the alternate made her unhappy.

“It makes you sad that there was the animosity, and I just hope that for our country they can make peace,” Remsen stated.

Beretta was additionally following the alternate. He factors out that he’s a shepherd of a church that holds all kinds of political opinions, however makes notice that the outspoken Pope is simply following within the footsteps of an extended line of Popes who’ve advocated for peace.

“Popes historically for a very, very long time have been very outspoken in the defense of peace, in the promotion of peace and of justice,” Beretta stated. “There was nothing unusual about what Pope Leo said, and so I thought that the reaction that he received was very unfortunate, and it saddened me, to be honest with you, it saddened me.”

The group stated they skilled gracious hospitality from the French whereas constructing stronger bonds with different members of St. Patrick’s.

“We’re usually just in and out of Mass, so we see a lot of people, but we don’t really have a chance to really connect with them, and that was a nice part of the trip,” Joel Patton stated.

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