William Johnson

Louisiana

Gregory Wietrzychowski says he is taking a very long walk for redemption in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

His goal is to visit 150 shrines dedicated to Mary. He’s about 500 miles into his estimated two-year journey that he expects will take him across much of the nation.

Wednesday he stopped to pray in front of the statute of Mary at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Opelousas on his way to the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Grand Coteau.

Wietrzychowski — “you say it like ‘what’s-your-house-key,” he advises — has traveled more than 4,000 miles on this pilgrimage. But he doesn’t count the first 3,500 miles.

“I started in Hawaii and flew to a monastery in Oklahoma. I can’t walk on water,” he said with a laugh.

His pilgrimage on foot began Nov. 19 in San Antonio, Texas at the Schoenstatt Shrine.

“I’m doing this because the evil in the world is getting so great. There needs to be a penance that Mary called on us to do at her appearance at Fatima,” Wietrzychowski said. Fatima, Portugal is where many Catholics believe an image of Mary appeared to three peasant children in 1917.

The pilgrim would not look out of place on the Appalachian trail in his jeans and baseball cap, comfortable walking shoes and 70-pound backpack.

He added that he also is walking “for my personal sins and for the crisis in the church. Pedophile priests have scarred the church tremendously.”

He is visiting 150 shrines to symbolically complete the rosary that consists of 150 beads, the same as the number of psalms in the Bible.

While he has visited dozens of churches and shrines on his journey, he said only four so far, dedicated to Mary, count toward his goal

Wietrzychowski said he was living in Hawaii and working with the St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, repairing statutes and teaching Bible classes when he came across a YouTube video by Mark Byerly that inspired him.

A number of years ago, Byerly sold all his possession and set out on a similar pilgrimage. “He called on others to make such an heroic penance,” Wietrzychowski said.

“It is a long video and at one point he mentions that if you are still watching at this point you are being called,” said the traveler, who took that message to heart.

This is a major life change for Wietrzychowski, 54, an artist who grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He spent decades creating religious art and street paintings in Europe. His work ranged from massive detailed copies of Renaissance masterpieces to abstract surrealism on streets from Florence, Italy, to Paris, France.

Now he is walking for Mary, who he said has got his back.

The rules of his pilgrimage allow him to accept rides when offered, but he cannot ask for rides or even hitchhike. He also may not ask for money, but he can ask for food or water.

He mentioned that one evening, not far from College Station in Texas, he was having a tough time after days without a meal.

“I was in the middle of nowhere. I was getting pretty hungry,” he said.

He called on Mary for help and almost immediately he turned a bend in the road and saw a sign leading to a Lutheran church.

He stopped but nobody was home. But a working spigot at least allowed him to get a drink. He pitched his tent on the grounds.

In the morning the pastor, in a cowboy hat and handlebar mustache, came by to find out more about his unexpected visitor. The two hit it off immediately and prayed together.

As far as Wietrzychowski is concerned, his prayer was answered.

“I’ve not had a bad experience yet. Mary does a good job,” he said. “Everyone has been so supportive.”

Catholic priests he encounters on his journey, often put him up. That allows him to bathe and rest from time to time.

After visiting churches in Lafayette, Wietrzychowski plans to travel on to New Orleans and from there on to Mississippi and Florida.

He hopes to continue his pilgrimage up the Atlantic coast in the spring. “There are a lot of Maronite shines in Pennsylvania,” Wietrzychowski said.

From there he plans to move on to New England and to head west over the summer.

While he has a number of major planned stops on his pilgrimage, Wietrzychowski has an iPad with him and will stop off at Internet cafes or fast food restaurants with WiFi every few days to look up churches and shrines along his route.

“It is going to be a long walk, but my shoes are holding up well,” he said.