2013 Pilgrimage to Alabama

explained Rev. Gillian Barr, executive director of the Jonathan Daniels House. “We are trying to continue his commitment to living and serving alongside those who are living along the margins; helping young adults grow in their spiritual lives and understand the connection between their spiritual life and looking for justice in the community.”

The project was located in a three-bedroom apartment during its first year, but it will relocate to a former parish rectory in fall 2015. The diocese’s goal is to have a long-term rental situation set up in Providence.

Barr stressed the interns can come from any background of beliefs. “You don’t necessarily have to be an active Christian to be in the program,” said Barr, “but the program is done from a Christian spiritual perspective and includes worship, prayer and faith-based learning. You have to live in that for a nine-month period.”

To honor his legacy and continue in the work he gave his life for, the Diocese of Rhode Island wants to keep social justice ministry going.

“Jonathan Daniels’ life was transformed even by his initial work here in Providence,” says Grenz. “It was him as a young adult working with people in the streets on two levels; working with people who were poor and had many needs and also working across racial lines. It’s very clear that’s what encouraged him to take the stand he did in the civil rights movement with him being martyred.”

“What we’re doing is creating a house where other young people can walk in his footsteps ... where they can also have that transformative experience by serving those in need and taking a stand against racism and advocating for racial justice.”

2013 Pilgrimage to Alabama August 2013

In August 2013, 300 pilgrims marched back from the Hayneville, Alabama, jail where Jonathan Daniels ’61 was held with the other demonstrators. (Photos from the 2013-4 Alumni Review.)

Bob Heely ’69, past president of the Alumni Association, with Ruby Sales, the young woman whose life was saved 48 years ago by Daniels.

Bob Randolph ’67 at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, which is the site of the Bloody Sunday conflict March 7, 1965, that brought Daniels to the state.

Daniels with Rachel West in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. Photo courtesy VMI Archives.

Visiting the Jonathan Daniels ’61 Memorial monument in Hayneville, Alabama, were, from left, Heely, Tom Jones ’69, Bill Lee ’59, Mike Hanna ’69 and Randolph. The memorial monument was donated by E. Cabell Brand ’44 and his wife, Shirley. Lee Pierce ’59, Bob Graves ’60 and Colin Campbell ’67 also attended the event but are not pictured.