The phone call came at one o’clock on an ordinary Thursday afternoon.
Charbel El Khoury* and his wife were working from home when a voice on the line asked a question that would change their lives: two twin girls, just 15 months old, needed a home that very evening. Could they take them?
“My wife and I said, ‘Yes, we will,'” Charbel recalls.
What was meant to be 10 days of emergency care became something far greater, when another call came: could they take the girls on a longer-term basis? Charbel gave his second yes.
It is a word Charbel thinks about deeply when he looks at the two twin girls, now in his care. And a word he holds close to his heart, as he prepares to walk the Camino of St Joseph, the archdiocesan overnight men’s pilgrimage through the streets of Sydney on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 August.
“What would have happened if St Joseph had said no?” he asks.
“But given his trust and his will to God, he said yes. Yes, I will take Mary to be my spouse. Yes, I will help bear that child, and I will carry him as a foster father.”
When Charbel first walked the Camino in 2024, a month before his wedding, he prayed that St Joseph would help him one day be a great father. He never imagined how literally that prayer would be answered.
“I would not, in my wildest dreams, have ever thought I would be walking somewhat in the steps of St Joseph [as a foster father to Christ],” he says. This year he will participate as a volunteer, offering every kilometre for a special intention.
“I’m offering this whole walk for every foster child in the system, and for all the foster parents,” he says. “I call it my Calvary. I’m carrying my cross that evening.”
His invitation to other fathers is simple: “Any foster fathers who would like to come – be my Simon, and I’ll be your Simon that evening. Even if you come for one church or all seven, for one metre or the 22 kilometres, come join us. Quietly, silently, with prayer, with love.”
Fathers and sons, walking together
For every veteran like Charbel, there are fathers saying yes to the Camino for the very first time, many bringing their sons with them.
Norman Bejjani, who recently led a procession at St Jerome’s Parish in Punchbowl, will walk this year alongside his two sons for the first time, learning together along the route about the quiet carpenter of Nazareth.
“I want to see the streets of Sydney filled with men carrying Rosaries instead of excuses, walking together with the protection of St Joseph,” Norman said.
Both men speak of St Joseph under two of his ancient titles from the litany that bears his name: protector of families, and terror of demons. Both are walking in the name of their families – and in the conviction that what happens in Australian homes will shape what happens in the nation.
“The future of our nation will not be decided by politics alone, it will be shaped by the strength of our families,” Norman said. “Strong families need faithful fathers, and faithful fathers are formed by walking with Christ with the intercession of St Joseph.
“If you’re searching for purpose, brotherhood, or a deeper relationship with God, then this Camino is for you.”
Organiser, Michael Jaksic from Maximus Men’s Ministry, within the Life, Marriage and Family team in the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation, said the Camino was built for exactly these men.
“St Joseph never says a word in the Gospels, he simply shows up, protects, provides and obeys,” Jaksic said.
“That’s the model of fatherhood our families and our country are crying out for, and it’s what men encounter on this walk, shoulder to shoulder with their sons and their brothers in faith.”
Last year 1,200 men walked through the night. Organisers are praying for 1,500 this year: fathers, sons, grandfathers and godfathers among them, setting out from St Patrick’s Church Hill and arriving at St Mary’s Cathedral for Mass and breakfast at dawn.
As Charbel puts it: “St Joseph was a quiet achiever. We don’t hear much from him, but look who Jesus Christ turned out to be. Be that silent achiever. And say yes, if you’re able to.”
The Camino of St Joseph begins on Friday 21 August at St Patrick’s Church Hill and concludes on Saturday 22 August at St Mary’s Cathedral.
Register here.
*Name changed to protect the identity of children in foster care.
