When Colleen and Jerry Schwarzbauer took their first group to Medjugorje in 1984, they had never traveled anywhere but California.
“We had never even traveled to any other states,” Colleen said. “So, we were not seasoned travelers.”
But in the years since then, Colleen has been back to Medjugorje 13 times. The travel agency she and Jerry started, JeriCo Christian Journeys, has taken hundreds of Catholic pilgrims to faith-filled sites all over the world.
Colleen is being honored with one of this year’s Catholic Rural Business Awards by the Office of Social Concerns of the Diocese of St. Cloud.
The award, which was presented Aug. 17 during an invitation-only Mass with Bishop Patrick Neary, honors business owners who live out their Catholic faith in the way they run their business and serve the rural community.
“Colleen’s business was founded and continues to run entirely on the basis of faith — living it out herself and inviting others to experience it at a deeper level,” said Kateri Mancini, director of social concerns for the diocese.
“Having traveled with Colleen through JeriCo Christian Journeys to the Holy Land, I observed first-hand how she catered to each individual in her charge,” said JoAnn Braegelman, rural life coordinator for the Office of Social Concerns and chair of the selection committee for the award.
“It was quite apparent that this wasn’t just a job for her. The enthusiasm that she displayed during the trip made it clear that sharing her faith and leading pilgrims to understand their faith in a deeper way through places and experiences is her vocation.”
In the early 1980s and despite their lack of travel experience, Jerry’s cousins Joe and Judy Becker invited them to join their business, First World Travel. They were based in St. Cloud and located in the shadow of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Colleen said.
On that first trip back in 1984, they hosted a large group and the late Father J. Alfred Kroll traveled with them as the spiritual director for the trip.
“Father Kroll was an amazing priest, but he would not allow me to cut the group to a smaller size. He said God was calling them, so we went with 57 people the first time that we took a group,” she said.
Somehow the group was separated during an airport layover, Colleen remembers.
“So, Jerry went with one group, and I went with the other group, and we ended up in Medjugorje together, which was awesome,” she said. “It was quite an experience, and it was the start of our many journeys.”
In 1990, the Beckers relocated their business to Mora to be closer to Joe’s parents. That move marked a new chapter as Colleen and Jerry took over the pilgrimage portion of the agency and founded JeriCo Christian Journeys — a moniker that blends both of their names and reflects their mission of faith-based travel.
Colleen has led many of JeriCo’s pilgrimages, but sometimes they overlap. When that happens, they divide and conquer — Jerry has led trips in the past, as well as the couple’s adult children and grandchildren, she said.
“I love going because you’re traveling with people who are like-minded and have the same values, want to see those same holy places that we’ve all heard about, whether it’s in the Bible or whether it’s from your pastors when they talk about them,” said Maureen Anderson, the couple’s daughter. “You get this cool experience that just instantly bonds you. And the people are so fun and interesting and kind.”
Maureen and her husband, Steve, have recently joined the business, taking on more responsibilities as Colleen begins to step back. Jerry, who was ordained a deacon in 1996, has already retired.
Maureen started working with JeriCo part time a couple of years ago, thinking that maybe it could become a second career after retirement.
“I’m just grateful they let me take it over,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like a job. You just feel lucky that you get to do this.”
In addition to someone from JeriCo leading each pilgrimage, they have had many priests from the St. Cloud Diocese, the archdiocese and beyond travel with them and serve as spiritual directors.
“The priest makes such a difference on a pilgrimage,” Colleen said. “It’s teamwork. They do the spiritual, we take care of the logistics.”
“We have priests that have been doing this for a very long time and priests that are recently ordained,” Maureen said. “Both are phenomenal and bring different things to each pilgrimage. One might be very Marian, one might be very Jesus-focused, one might be really focused on confessions or teaching. Just the different personalities, they make it unique and fun, and every trip is different.”
Among the particularly powerful experiences Maureen remembers are confessions in the Garden of Gethsemane at night and Mass in the barracks at Auschwitz, which is rarely allowed.
“It was amazing. Every site just has its own beauty,” she said.
“So many people have really deepened their faith through the pilgrimage experience,” Colleen said. “A lot of it we really can attribute to the priest and their involvement. It’s been amazing.”
Knowing that her faith is what leads her in her business as she plans and guides pilgrimages is important, not only to the clergy that travel with JeriCo, but to those whose parishioners travel with them, JoAnn said.
“The wide-spread impact that Colleen and Jerry and their business have had throughout our rural diocese is hard to measure,” Kateri said. “We are honored to be able to celebrate them and their commitment to faith and community with the Rural Business Award this year.”
As Colleen reflected on her 40+ year career, she said she couldn’t have asked for a better job.
“To be able to walk where Jesus walked is lifechanging.”
Colleen and Jerry Schwarzbauer are members of St. Mary Parish in Mora.