What's Happening

October 16, 2025, Florissant, Missouri – About 20 pilgrims hiked through the wetlands along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on September 27-28, 2025, to deepen their appreciation of God’s creation, and especially the role of water. They were participating in “Pilgrims of Hope for Creation: The Rivers as Waters of Life,” hosted by the Pallottine Retreat and Conference Center in Florissant, Missouri.

Adrian Dominican Associate Celeste Mueller, DMin, President of the Board of Directors of the retreat center, organized and led the pilgrimage, convened at the end of the 2025 Season of Creation. The purpose was to “walk together to observe, listen and learn from the Rivers and the communities of plants, animals, and humans that depend on these living waters,” according to information on the retreat center’s website.

During the walk, Celeste told participants that they were hiking on “sacred sites” and encouraged them to treat these sites with an expectation that their encounter with them “might change something in us.” 

Laura Law, another Adrian Dominican Associate, also participated in the pilgrimage, and said she appreciated the meditation experience of the retreat. 

Read more about the retreat in an article by Laura Kosta published in The St. Louis Review, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Feature photo at top: Some of the participants in the Pilgrimage of Hope for Creation, hosted by the Pallottine Retreat and Conference Center in Florissant, Missouri, take time to pose for a photo.