Haitian Christians Pilgrimage Ohio Today: 40-Mile Walk From Springfield to Columbus Ahead of Reformation Sunday

Pastor Julio Dumano should have been in the pulpit. Instead, his seat at First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield sits empty — detained August 25, his whereabouts unknown.

So this week, his fellow pastors are walking the road he cannot walk: a four-day, 40-plus-mile pilgrimage from Springfield to Columbus, October 21–24, carrying one message into the capital ahead of Reformation Sunday — "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Some walkers wear electronic ankle monitors; all walk under the threat of detention and deportation.

Why Are Haitian Christians Walking From Springfield to Columbus Ohio?

America granted Haitians Temporary Protected Status because returning home was dangerous. Springfield welcomed thousands — an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians — who helped revive the local economy, filling jobs, starting businesses and strengthening congregations.

Then the protections were terminated — ending drivers licenses and work permits, per the Catholic Telegraph. Roughly 30 Haitian immigrants are currently detained by ICE, and many more are fighting to remain in Cleveland court proceedings.

The pilgrimage demands an end to ankle monitoring and detention — and lasting protections for Haitian immigrants — with fellow clergy and faith leaders walking alongside in solidarity.

Who Is Pastor Reginald Silencieux? The Pastor Leading the Springfield Walk

When hundreds packed First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield in August, Pastor Reginald Silencieux welcomed them from the podium.

"Thank you so much for coming. When I see your presence, it's very encouraging. When Haitian people see you, they can see Jesus is alive. Amen?"

That Sunday the once-packed church held only a few dozen Haitian members — most worshipping remotely, afraid to be seen. Yet those present danced in bright suits and dresses, singing in Haitian Creole and English.

Pastor Silencieux has become the public face of a community that refuses to be silenced — his congregation's assistant pastor is the missing Julio Dumano, and his fellow pastor Joubert Adrien was detained August 20. The pilgrimage to Columbus is, in a real sense, his answer.

What Happened to the Two Detained Haitian Pastors in Ohio?

Pastor Joubert Adrien, the Haitian ministry pastor at High Street Church — a Nazarene congregation in Springfield — was detained on August 20. His wife, Denise Adrien Gedeon, watched masked officers surround their car outside a gas station and handcuff her husband. She has not seen him since.

Adrien — a father of two, five years in the U.S., no criminal history and no final order of removal, per advocates — had Temporary Protected Status and a pending asylum case. He is held in Butler County Jail, about an hour from Springfield, where his family says he ministers to fellow detainees.

Pastor Julio Dumano, an assistant pastor at First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, was detained on August 25. Fellow clergy call him a "godly man." His whereabouts are unknown — a fact that has electrified faith leaders across denominations, much like the Gen Z students baptized across America this fall showed the wider christain community carrying its faith into the streets.

More than 400 people answered the call — Baptists, Unitarian Universalists, Mennonites, Quakers and others packing food boxes for Haitians in hiding. "We're making these demands in the name of Christ," said Carl Ruby, pastor of Springfield's Central Christian Church: release the pastors, stop the ankle monitors, stop treating Haitians inhumanely.

Archbishop Casey Solidarity Mass Springfield: What Happened on October 14?

Ten days before the pilgrimage set out, Archbishop Robert Casey celebrated a solidarity Mass at St. Raphael Church in Springfield — a "Messe de solidarite memwa Sen Callistus," Haitian Creole for "Solidarity Mass in Memory of St. Callistus."

About 170 filled the pews that evening: Hispanic neighbors, Quakers, Episcopal, Presbyterian and Baptist pastors, Catholic Charities workers, Sisters of Charity — and Governor Mike DeWine with his wife. The Mass was spoken in English, Spanish, French and Haitian Creole.

"We must have eyes to see humanity — God's creation — as our brothers and sisters," the archbishop said in his homily. "We have to look upon our neighbor through the eyes of Christ and not our own." The local Society of St. Vincent de Paul, led by Casey Rollins, has been supplying legal, financial and material aid to affected families — part of a wider 2026 wave of churches gathering in force, from Healing Streams to the Movement San Diego beach baptisms and France's Gen Z Catholic revival.

Why Does the Pilgrimage End on Reformation Sunday 2026?

The walkers arrive in Columbus just ahead of October 25 — Reformation Sunday, commemorating the movement that challenged the church's entanglement with political power nearly 500 years ago. Writing in Religion News Service, Presbyterian minister Jennifer Butler framed the pilgrimage as the question of the moment: what is power for?

Her answer, and the walkers', is that a reformed church defends the dignity of the vulnerable instead of deciding who belongs. It is a direct challenge, in her framing, to a political project that would privilege a narrow vision of Christian identity in deciding whose rights are protected.

Forty miles on foot — some of it in ankle monitors — is the sermon. Whether Columbus will hear it is the question Reformation Sunday will ask back. And the pastors of Springfield, one of them still missing, intend to keep walking until it is answered.

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.