September 2, 2025
Dear Friend,
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of Hondurans flooded their streets with prayer and peaceful demonstration. Reports from our team members who attended said it was like an inspirational sea of people all wanting the same thing for their country: peace. One of our ASJ-US colleagues said he walked past Pentecostals dancing and playing music, a woman praying the rosary, nuns walking, and priests and altar boys in full robes–all walking in the same space together for peace.
PC: Demonstrators in San Pedro Sula
And prayer not only resounded in Honduras. In Grand Rapids, MI–where ASJ-US’ office is located–over 50 supporters came to pray, sing, and walk in solidarity with Honduras. Just like in Honduras, the GR solidarity walk was a deeply meaningful time. It is good to act with brothers and sisters for justice! Below are some pictures from the day, as well as one of two local news stories that was filed about the GR-based prayer walk. Thank you to all who joined us in body and in spirit as we walked, prayed, sang, and acted for justice in Honduras!
Coverage from WWMT Channel 3 of our Grand Rapids Prayer Walk for Honduras.
Our next step is to hand-deliver the dozens of signatures we collected from participants to the office of Rep. Hillary Scholten (MI-03), urging her to co-sponsor HR 4202, a bill to support free, fair, and transparent elections in Honduras this November. We have requested a meeting with her office the week of August 25.
Finally, I wanted to end by sharing this powerful photo:
This is the leader of the Evangelical Fraternity of Honduras, Gerardo Irias, and the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, José Vicente Nácher Tatay. Together, they and the organizations they lead called for and convened the prayer walk. A year ago, these men didn’t even know each other’s names. Now, in part because of ASJ’s work to regularly convene them and other civil society organizations in the name of Honduran democracy, they embraced and wept together Saturday as they watched hundreds of thousands of Hondurans stand up and declare with one voice, “Peace and Democracy Now!”
Onward,
Rev. Kyle Meyaard-Schaap
Executive Director, ASJ-US
