Back in 2015, Pope Francis proclaimed the Year of Mercy to run from December 2015 to December 2016. The aim was for all peoples to make a pilgrimage to the “Mercy Door” at their Cathedral. This was a worldwide activity. Russ, our resident Deacon, spoke to the ‘Arch’ about our Club organising a few Pilgrimages from certain near-the-CBD churches to St Stephen’s. Russ chose 3 parish churches on the north side and 3 more on the south side of town.

This gave members the challenge of planning, testing and putting on these Pilgrimage Walks. There was no one walk that we “led” – our routes were put on the Archdiocese’s website so that potential pilgrims could choose their own time to complete them.

However, BCBC had to pre-out the 6 routes, then put them on as official walks in 2016. Later, we did 2 back-to-back, starting at the 6 churches, going to the Cathedral and back out to one of the other churches on the other side of town.

Some of us got so inspired that we wanted to do these 6 walks again, this time on a Wednesday afternoon. Once we completed all 6, we were in the mood for Wednesday afternoon walks. Thus began the Strolls; being within Brisbane and only 3 hours’ long, they were not considered Walks, so these short walks became “Strolls”.

Now, it is time for a 10^th anniversary celebration of Strolling. So, during the second half of 2026, all 6 “Original Strolls” will be put on the Calendar. Stay tuned.

The actual description of this & the other 5 “Original” Strolls will be in following Jilalans.