Following in the footsteps of Sr Clare Crockett
On August 8 2026, 12 pilgrims and two Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFR), representing nine countries, gathered in Quito, Ecuador, for an extraordinary journey of faith, service and evangelisation. Inspired by Servant of God Sr Clare Crockett, our ‘All or Nothing Mission and Pilgrimage’ would take us from the Andes to Guayaquil and Playa Prieta, where Sr Clare died in the service of God and His people.
We came from Ireland, Australia, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Colombia and Slovakia, ranging in age from 19 to over 60. Despite our differences, we quickly became a family. Living, travelling, praying and working together brought challenges, but these drew us closer and taught us about the self-giving love at the heart of Christian community.
Beginning in Quito
Our first days were spent acclimatising in Quito, approximately 9,350 feet above sea level. Many experienced breathlessness, dizziness and headaches, yet the city’s beauty and Catholic heritage provided a remarkable beginning.
We celebrated Mass and visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Success, the route of the Seven Crosses, El Panecillo and the Basilica of the National Vow. We also visited La Compañía de Jesús and the place where President Gabriel García Moreno, who consecrated Ecuador to the Sacred Heart, was assassinated.
One morning began with earthquake tremors during breakfast. We later learned that a stronger earthquake had occurred in neighbouring Colombia. One Colombian pilgrim had family near the affected area, so we prayed for everyone impacted. Thankfully, her loved ones were safe.
Mission in Guayaquil
In Guayaquil, security gates and barred windows reflected the city’s struggles with organised crime and violence. Our accommodation was basic: the women slept in tents on a convent rooftop beside busy roads and floodlit sports pitches, while the men slept on mattresses in a parish centre. Heat, noise and little sleep challenged us, but also invited us to surrender our preferences and depend upon God’s grace.
The people’s warmth and faith contrasted with their difficult surroundings. Catholicism was woven into family life, education and culture. Most days began with Mass and Eucharistic adoration, giving us strength for the work ahead.
The sisters told us that crime in the area had declined since an adoration chapel opened”
At a mission school run by the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother, we played with the children, distributed Miraculous Medals and painted a medical clinic which the sisters hope to reopen. A previous volunteer doctor had reportedly been kidnapped, forcing the former clinic to close.
The sisters told us that crime in the area had declined since an adoration chapel opened. The Blessed Sacrament is exposed behind protective glass, with the children adoring Jesus on one side and the public on the other. Amid formidable security precautions, the chapel is a radiant sign of Christ’s presence.
Other pilgrims raised a convent wall following several intrusions and removed an old tree. Such practical tasks supported a religious community serving courageously in difficult circumstances.
Encountering Christ in the poor
Our visits to the elderly, sick and dying were especially moving. Entering people’s homes and praying with them was humbling and deeply privileged. At the bedside of a dying man, we helped his family pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet in Spanish.
We also went door to door carrying Divine Mercy materials, images of St Carlo Acutis, Miraculous Medals and St Benedict Medals. Much of our luggage allowance had been used to bring these devotional items to Ecuador.
In central Guayaquil, we gathered near St Peter’s Cathedral for prayer before going out in pairs to evangelise. Not everyone spoke Spanish, but a sincere smile often communicated more than words. Homeless people, street workers and police officers gratefully received medals and images. We were reminded that evangelisation means meeting each person with love and offering a simple assurance: God has not forgotten you.
In the footsteps of Sr Clare
The spiritual heart of our journey was Playa Prieta, where Sr Clare and five young candidates died when their school collapsed during the earthquake of April 16 2016.
Holy Family School was filled with the joy of the children, staff and sisters. A chapel dedicated to Sr Clare and the five girls stands where they were found, at the centre of the grounds. As children played nearby, priests heard confessions and students freely received the sacrament. It was a beautiful image of a Catholic school with Christ at its heart.
Two ten-year-old girls, Sasha and Michelle, ran over and practised their English with me. On our final day, Sasha embraced me and presented me with a handmade card for her new friend, Aoife – a memory I will always treasure.
Sr Morgan HM welcomed us and showed us around. She was joyful, selfless and radiant. Later, around 25 of us cleared an old chapel in intense heat and humidity. That evening, we celebrated Mass in Sr Clare’s chapel. We stood in a place marked by tragedy, yet everything spoke of resurrection, joy and hope.
Amid such suffering, the centre embodies the Church’s commitment to protect life and accompany mothers with compassion”
On leaving Playa Prieta, we stopped in Portoviejo, where the sisters had established the diocese’s first crisis pregnancy centre. Due to open on September 15, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, it will support expectant mothers and vulnerable families. Its importance was underlined by the recent tragic death of a baby found abandoned nearby and by the very young expectant mothers the sisters encounter. Amid such suffering, the centre embodies the Church’s commitment to protect life and accompany mothers with compassion.
Gifts of faith and friendship
On the Solemnity of the Assumption, we joined a retreat at which Home of the Mother lay members renewed their commitments. Afterwards, we presented Spanish copies of St Faustina’s Diary, Divine Mercy materials, images of St Carlo Acutis and Miraculous Medals. The recipients’ gratitude was deeply moving.
Near the school stood a statue of Sr Clare erected after the earthquake. When a shopkeeper heard that one pilgrim had known her personally, she wept, revealing the enduring affection for the young sister from Derry.
We also travelled to the Shrine of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, overlooking the Pacific. There, we prayed before a statue of Our Lady Rosa Mystica which had reportedly shed tears of blood, and celebrated outdoor Mass in a boat-shaped chapel. Prayer and singing transformed the seven-hour round trip into pilgrimage.
The violence affecting Ecuador came painfully close when, the day after our departure, a prison officer was shot dead outside the school and convent. We prayed for his soul, his family and all living under the shadow of violence.
An invitation to give everything
Our final stage took us into the Andes, approximately 14,500 feet above sea level, to the Shrine of Our Lady, Guardian of the Faith. We entrusted to Our Lady our families, benefactors, everyone we had encountered, and the people and Church of Ecuador. Above all, we prayed for Ireland’s renewal through Sr Clare’s intercession.
We entrusted our wounds to Christ, knowing that He reveals our weaknesses not to condemn us, but to heal and transform us”
The mission challenged us through heat, altitude, early mornings, basic conditions and the surrender of our plans. These difficulties revealed our attachments and need for healing. During a Eucharistic healing service, we entrusted our wounds to Christ, knowing that He reveals our weaknesses not to condemn us, but to heal and transform us.
Sr Clare’s words, “All or nothing!”, were not merely a motto but the pattern of her life. The fruits of her surrender remain visible in the children, families, religious communities and pilgrims inspired by her witness.
On August 21, our international family parted at Guayaquil Airport. We returned tired but grateful, carrying memories of Ecuador’s people, their vibrant faith and the missionaries serving them.
We also returned with the question at the heart of Sr Clare’s witness: What might God accomplish if we stopped giving Him only part of ourselves and finally gave Him everything?
Aoife Martin, from Swords, Co. Dublin, is actively involved in the Church and Catholic ministries. She works with Marian Pilgrimages and recently completed a degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Special thanks to organisers Emma Gallagher, Fr Antonio Maria CFR and Paola Demberger; Fr Bernardino Maria CFR; the Home of the Mother Community; Divine Mercy Publications; Paul Madden; and Sr Clare’s family.
