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 has 30+ years of experience living in a Hutterite community (1984-2017). He left to pursue higher education and discover his personal legend. Jason completed his bachelor’s in history/journalism in May 2022 at the University of Montana. For graduate school, he will study the apothecary and medicinal tradition employed by Hutte
Jason Stahl has 30+ years of experience living in a Hutterite community (1984-2017). He left to pursue higher education and discover his personal legend. Jason completed his bachelor’s in history/journalism in May 2022 at the University of Montana. For graduate school, he will study the apothecary and medicinal tradition employed by Hutterite physicians in the Early Modern period. He is making this pilgrimage as part of the 500-year commemoration of the birth of Anabaptism in 2025.
https://taeuferbewegung2025.de/en/
Jason has successful pilgrimage experience, having completed the 800-km Frances Camino de Santiago in 2018. During that trip, he conducted initial reconnaissance of Hutterite sites and memorials in Germany, Austria, Italy, Czechia, and Slovakia in anticipation of this project. Since then, he continues to establish contacts with local historians and scholars.
Stahl is also a journalist, woodworker, foodie, perpetual student, and self-development enthusiast.
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.