September Dates: Meet & Greet, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 5:30-6:30 pm, Thursdays Sept. 2, 9, 16, 23, 10:00 am-12 noon, and Sunday, Sept. 26, 1:00-4:00 pm.

In this unprecedented time, Via International and the SoCal Presbyterian Immigrant Accompaniment Ministry are partnering to build relationships of mutual support with local leaders along the U.S.-Mexico border. Co-hosting the experience will be leaders of The Border Church / La Iglesia Fronteriza, a binational community of faith dedicated to accompanying the migrant people of God at Friendship Park, the historic binational meeting place at the westernmost end of the border. The Camino de San Diego will offer participants the opportunity to learn from borderlands leaders engaged in “journeys toward justice” in San Diego and Tijuana. These leaders will serve as hosts and guides, sharing their spiritual journeys and their practices of working for justice at the grassroots. Participants will be encouraged and inspired to celebrate their own journeys toward justice.

OVERVIEW
The Camino de San Diego consists of six parts:

• An Orientation will introduce participants to enduring themes — including colonization, white racism & nationalism — that have given shape to the cultural context of the U.S.-Mexico
  borderlands. The orientation will be hosted by Rev. John Fanestil (Ph.D. in History, USC) and leaders from the Via International and Border Church communities.
• Three Immersive Site Visits will introduce participants to local leaders working for justice at three landmark locations in the California/Baja California borderlands:
  • Chicano Park, where the journeys of “chicanos” and “fronterizos” will be explored;
  • La Plaza El Chaparral, where participants will meet “migrants” and “asylum-seekers”;
  • Friendship Park, where “deportees” and “mixed-status families” will be foregrounded.

• The Border Church / La Iglesia Fronteriza – Join this unique bi-national community of faith for a 30-minute “virtual hike” (informal conversation), followed by a 30-minute celebration of communion with friends from both the United States and Mexico.
• A Closing Retreat gives participants an extended opportunity to explore their place within “the migrant people of God,” to embrace their own journeys toward justice, and to identify ways to live out their own callings in their home contexts and communities.

To reserve a spot for the Sept. Camino, please email Wendy Gist (email below).

QUESTIONS? Contact us:

Wendy Gist:  gist.wendy@gmail.com

Rev. John Fanestil | Via International
 john@viainternational.org or 619-823-6223