A pilgrimage from loss to hope: the Camino Domini in Trentham

This pilgrimage tells the story of rural Victoria, said Deacon Joe Leach at the start of the Camino Domini from Lyonville, a hamlet in central Victoria, to St Mary Magdalen’s Church, Trentham. The walk was dubbed a ‘pilgrimage from loss to hope’, Deacon Joe said, a reclaiming of tradition and a response to the sorrow lingering in some rural communities.

‘I sense a lot of despondency in the broader Australian community, a sense of loss,’ the permanent deacon at St Mary Magdalen’s says. ‘We have to recognise that and say, okay, but we are walking now towards hope.’

The decline of farming, gold mining and timber industries has left rural Victorian towns smaller, quieter. ‘There are a lot of centres that were once well populated and had thriving communities, including thriving Catholic communities,’ he says. ‘Where once it took four or five people to run a farm, now it takes one.’

Being a Catholic is not just turning up for Mass on Sunday.

Yet Deacon Joe is focused on a revitalisation of country spirit. ‘It’s about attitude more than numbers. Working towards hope, we can build strong communities, even if we have fewer people.

‘The right attitude will increase participation in the community, and that’s what we want. We want people to be involved—as the Second Vatican Council said, active and conscious involvement.

‘We want the fullness of the Catholic tradition, which includes pilgrimage like this and processions. This was part of our Catholic heritage. And we want to call that back and say, “This is part of who we are. Being a Catholic is not just turning up for Mass on Sunday. There’s a lot more to the whole lifestyle and tradition of the Catholic Church.”’

The crisp winter air carried the sound of chatter along the Domino Rail Trail, a 6-kilometre path through the Wombat State Forest. No wombats were spotted, but there were kangaroos. Rain earlier in the day had left muddy puddles for the pilgrims to dodge, which the more than 50 people making the pilgrimage on Saturday 12 July did cheerfully.

There was both the physical and social space for people to choose to walk alone with their thoughts or to mingle with new friends.

Among the Camino Domini pilgrims were families with children and teenagers, grandparents, couples and church groups. Many pilgrims were there for deeply personal reasons that they preferred to keep private. There was both the physical and social space for people to choose to walk alone with their thoughts or to mingle with new friends.

One pilgrim generously agreed to share her reasons for joining the Camino Domini, on the condition that she was not named or identified. ‘Selene’ was going through an intense period of grief and she felt that St Mary Magdalene was trying to tell her something. Selene is not a Catholic, or Christian, but explained that the voice of Mary Magdalene was coming through so strongly that she had to explore what it meant.

Selene’s spiritual journey led her to do the pilgrimage to St Mary Magdelen’s Church partly because of the name, and because that region of central Victoria is connected with her grief. The act of making the pilgrimage may clarify what Mary Magdalene is imparting, but it was also an essential moment for Selene to be with her own feelings, with the soothing rhythm of footsteps and heartbeat in sync, quieting her mind to allow for contemplation.

Another pilgrim, Mary, lives in Lyonville and commutes to Melbourne when her work requires. ‘I’ve lived here for a few years, on a couple of acres with chickens. I wanted to live in nature, and I love it.’ She speaks regretfully about the closure of the local pub, which has had its ups and downs for years, but says there is still life in it. ‘They do movies and drinks now. People will come up from Melbourne just do see the movies.’

Mary walks for a while with Trentham parishioner James, and they reminisce about the time he gave her some valuable advice about her chickens. James was on the pilgrimage with one of his five children and her family. He reveals that he wasn’t raised Catholic—he and his wife converted in 1980­—and speaks about the importance of his faith life. ‘You can understand why so many people in Australia are now totally lost, because they haven’t grown up with any really important values transmitted to them by their parents. Society doesn’t support parents in teaching boundaries, or forgiveness.’

Several pilgrims were members of the Kyneton Parish, Our Lady of the Rosary. One of them, Peter, was doing the pilgrimage with the late Pope Francis on his mind, having just read his biography.

It’s spiritual, and being in nature helps. Even today, walking, we might be talking quite a lot, but you know, you are with companions on a journey.

‘His belief in hope was key,’ Peter says. ‘Even in dire situations, he clung to hope. It’s part of the Christian ethos.’ Pilgrimages to Rome and, recently, the Middle East have deepened Peter’s horror of the futility of war, which he shared with Francis. ‘Pope Francis couldn’t comprehend that people could be so violent towards each other in a supposedly civilised society.’

Elizabeth, another Kyneton parishioner, saw pilgrimage as instinctive. ‘It’s spiritual, and being in nature helps,’ she says. ‘Even today, walking, we might be talking quite a lot, but you know, you are with companions on a journey.’

Having moved from Melbourne years ago with her husband, she understands small-town loss, but also the enduring warmth and receptiveness to change offered by rural communities. ‘It might sound old-fashioned, but there’s security here. But then you have to be very open to what is going on in the world and be able to at least think about it.

‘And also to be grateful that we do live in a country like this. My husband is from Indonesia, so it’s good just to see so many movements of people into our country. I think that we’re the richer for it.’

The trail ends at the now-abandoned Trentham railway station, but the pilgrims continued a little further into the town to St Mary Magdalen’s Church, where they warmed hands around cups of soup or tea, before Deacon Joe gave a Benediction.

He and his wife Mandy recently moved to Trentham, where he assists the Kyneton–Trentham parish priest Declan O’Brien. They are devoted to the parish and clearly work hard to keep it flourishing.

You can feel a bit isolated, but now we have hundreds of people coming to our church, and ... it’s given us a mission: to welcome them.

Deacon Joe talks of the renewed sense of mission the Jubilee Year has given the Trentham Catholic community after St Mary Magdalen’s was designated an official Archdiocese pilgrim place.

‘We’re a very small church. We’ve had hundreds, literally hundreds of pilgrims come, sometimes in groups of 50 or 60. For a small church it is a bit of a challenge, but the pilgrims have come with a deep sense of devotion, and they have brought this sense of hope to the community.

‘Locked away at the edge of the Wombat State Forest, you can feel a bit isolated, but now we have hundreds of people coming to our church, and this has given the community something to do, and it’s given us a mission: to welcome them.’

He hopes the renewed tradition of pilgrimage will outlast the Jubilee Year. ‘Clearly, we’re not going to get busloads of pilgrims, but maybe this could become an annual event.’