Father Gary Graf, known as Father Gary, sought to honor our immigrant neighbors one step at a time
This week, Father Gary Graf, a Catholic priest from Chicago, made his long-awaited arrival to the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, completing a 800-mile walk that began at the childhood home of Illinois-born Pope Leo XIV and sought to urge solidarity with the immigrant families who call this country their home. An emotional video shared by the “Step Out, Speak Up” campaign on Tuesday showed Father Graf – known as Father Gary by his community members – and several supporters bearing the rain and bitter cold as their ferry approached Liberty Island.
“This journey has brought us to this point, to the base of this statue, Lady Liberty,” Father Gary said from the base of the iconic statue that for decades greeted millions of immigrants who were processed at nearby Ellis Island during the first half of the 20th century. “The incredible emotion, just of people who have gathered around this morning, in the rain, coming out here, and look at faces that represent people from every country of the world to this present moment.”
Father Gary said that each individual “who has stepped foot at the base of this statue and has entered into this great city of New York” has been a “blessing … to this great nation.”
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Father Gary’s 800-mile journey to New York City began nearly two months ago at the boyhood home of Pope Leo in Dolton, Illinois, motivated by the horrific mistreatment of immigrants at the hands of masked mass deportation agents. Catholic News Agency reported last month that 67-year-old Father Graf walked nearly 20 miles a day, taking just one day off when he fell off a horse while visiting a parish, breaking several ribs. “That day, friends walked in his stead.” Incredibly, Father Gary continued his pilgrimage undeterred.
“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,” Catholic News Agency continued. “Ordained in 1984, he spent five years as a priest in Mexico serving a people ‘with whom I fell deeply in love.’”
The faith leader told Catholic News Agency that following the administration’s senseless raids targeting his beloved Chicago community, he “felt a call that was directly from above” to do something.
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“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,” the outlet said. “I’m sure the hands of many immigrants helped build these things,” Father Gary correctly noted. In addition to his exhaustive traveling, Father Gary set aside time on Day of the Dead last month to commemorate the at least 25 individuals who have died while in federal immigration custody. From New Jersey, he sent a message of hope for Thanksgiving, urging families to keep the faith. Reaction to his pilgrimage was positive, he shared. “He said many of the conversations he did have — in small towns, rest stops and parish halls — were marked by curiosity rather than hostility,” National Catholic Reporter said.
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In spite of the serious injuries he suffered during his traveling, Father Gary arrived in New York this week as planned, greeted “with a warm reception hosted by an interfaith group,” independent news outlet Our Town NY reported.
“Graf, perhaps lifted by the steadfastness of his mission, appeared serene at the Dec. 2 ceremony held in his honor,” the outlet said. “He patiently listened in a front row seat as faith leaders representing multiple religions praised his work, as well as emphasized their opposition to current federal immigration policy, such as the ICE raids that have occurred in New York City and other municipalities.” National Catholic Reporter said the interfaith program featured short recordings of Chicago-area children describing “losing sleep, living in anger and feeling trapped in constant fear as their undocumented parents navigate arrest risks and custody threats. The room fell quiet.”
Father Eric Cruz, Director of Pastoral Migratoria of NY and one of the interfaith leaders at the service, said in a video message shared by America’s Voice that he and others were present “to give voice” to those children and others targeted under federal immigration policy:
Faith leaders stood united as Fr. Gary completed his pilgrimage.Fr. Cruz reminds us what this moment is about: “We’re here to give voice to the voiceless… to bring the light of respect and dignity that we faith leaders and others of goodwill have and want to share and defend for them”
— America's Voice (@americasvoice.bsky.social) 2025-12-04T18:55:37.633Z
Rev. Gabriel Salguero put it plainly, “it’s decision time in America.”Faith leaders across traditions are calling the country to choose justice over cruelty, and immigrant families over fear.
— America's Voice (@americasvoice.bsky.social) 2025-12-04T21:05:26.135Z
National Catholic Reporter noted that Father Gary was in the midst of his pilgrimage when U.S. Catholic bishops, backed by Pope Leo XIV, issued a rare, stinging rebuke of U.S. immigration policy.
“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” the bishops wrote. “We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care. We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status. We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools. We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.”
National Catholic Reporter said that Father Gary used his time at the podium to say that while his journey was finally completed, it’s up to all of us to keep up the fight for justice and dignity for immigrant families.
“My feet can rest, but my spirit cannot rest, not while immigrant children cry alone, not while families are torn apart, not while strangers — men, women and children, flesh and bone, heart and soul, passion and courage, holding families together in the midst of government-imposed fear — are treated as anything less than kin,” Father Gary said. “To tear families apart is to wound the very heart of God. And now, after all these miles, I say again: It is time to step up. It is time to speak out.”
“The journey has come to a close… but the reflection on the part of all of us gathered today is that the journey is just beginning”Earlier this week, Fr. Gary’s 900+ mile walk ended at the Statue of Liberty, but the call to stand with immigrant families is only growing louder.
— America's Voice (@americasvoice.bsky.social) 2025-12-04T16:41:00.512Z
It should be of comfort to Father Gary that from buying out food vendors’ products to blowing whistles in order to warn about masked and armed immigration agents invading neighborhoods, Americans from all backgrounds have been coming together to find new and creative ways to protect and defend immigrant communities. In the Charlotte area – which has been one of the major areas most recently targeted by masked mass deportation agents — community members have flooded trainings to learn how to help keep their neighbors safe during ICE and CBP invasions.
Among them has been Beth Clemens, who stationed herself outside a Latino-owned bakery that was forced to close during Border Patrol’s occupation, CNN reported. That wasn’t okay with Clements, who threw on a yellow vest worn by immigration watch volunteers in order to patrol the area around the business. “I’m going to walk the streets with my whistle and I want to keep my neighbors protected,” she said, “because they deserve protection and they deserve to live in a world where they’re not scared.”
