MISSION
Retracing the path of our ancestors, in search of history, healing and adventure.
Why Pilgrimage?
- Pilgrimage is a common way in which humans of all faiths reconnect with and learn about places of public or spiritual significance.
- Pilgrimage opens avenues for reconnecting with the land, language, culture and traditions of our ancestors.
- Pilgrimage by proxy raises public awareness, invites reflection, and begins the process of healing and empowerment.
Documenting our pilgrimage will seek to create appreciation for the Hutterite culture, language, and heritage. This project will bring a renewed sense of purpose and belonging to the members of the Hutterite community.
We are seeking answers to the question of "what does the Hutterite witness mean to us today? Are we truly living it?"
Truth and Reconciliation
- The truth and reconciliation process seeks to create a safe container for acknowledging past trauma, appropriate public mourning, and subsequent forgiveness and healing.
- Truth and reconciliation promotes the belief that confronting and reckoning with the past is necessary for successful transitions from conflict, resentment and tension to peace and connectedness.
Our goal is to educate ourselves, and those who choose to follow along, of the truth of Hutterite oppression and dislocation. We will promote healing and forgiveness through prayer and ceremony via pilgrimage by proxy. We encourage others to participate in their own investigation, reflection, and prayer as they follow along remotely.
Outcomes
Two resources will be produced
Empowering publics worldwide to learn about Hutterites
Website
- Users will experience European sites, museums, memorials, and nature
- Virtual photographs, videos, interviews, and reflections
- Daily and weekly updates
Guidebook
- Detailed maps for future pilgrims
- Accommodations and sites to visit
- Region by region information
- Elevation profiles
- Up-to-date route information
- Detours and alternate routes
About Us
Jason Stahl
Jason Stahl
Jason Stahl
Jason Stahl is a historian and PhD researcher at the University of Regensburg. After 32 years in a Montana Hutterite colony he left to pursue higher education and personal development.
He holds an MA in Manuscript Cultures from the University of Hamburg (2025) and a BA in History and Journalism from the University of Montana (2022). His
Jason Stahl is a historian and PhD researcher at the University of Regensburg. After 32 years in a Montana Hutterite colony he left to pursue higher education and personal development.
He holds an MA in Manuscript Cultures from the University of Hamburg (2025) and a BA in History and Journalism from the University of Montana (2022). His research began with sixteenth-century Hutterite medical manuscripts—particularly the writings of Leonhard Gagasser from Moravia—and has since expanded into a broader effort to recover Anabaptist histories at risk of disappearing in Slovakia and Ukraine.
Stahl completed the 800-km Camino de Santiago (Camino Francés) in 2018. In 2025, he coordinated an international symposium on Hutterite and Haban heritage in Slovakia, bringing together scholars from nine countries working on this shared history.
His vocation is driven by a simple question: how can forgotten histories be made visible and meaningful again?
Paul Hofer
Jason Stahl
Jason Stahl
Paul Hofer is a multilingual nomad and disciple of walking prayer. He grew up in a Dariusleut Hutterite Colony in Alberta, Canada, and has always been drawn towards spirituality and culture. His life's philosophy is to surrender himself completely to the choreography of Spirit, which has led him on many challenging and intense experiences
Paul Hofer is a multilingual nomad and disciple of walking prayer. He grew up in a Dariusleut Hutterite Colony in Alberta, Canada, and has always been drawn towards spirituality and culture. His life's philosophy is to surrender himself completely to the choreography of Spirit, which has led him on many challenging and intense experiences in the past decade. He has traveled extensively throughout Europe, North and South America, and has absorbed insight, language, and wisdom along the way.
To fund his travels, Hofer has planted over half a million trees in the forests of Western Canada. He has developed a great appreciation for nature, and is engaged in environmental activism in an attempt to provide the best possible future for the Earth and the next seven generations. He is currently studying the connection between culture, history and trauma, and the role that pilgrimage plays in reconciliation and healing.