In the spirit of the “Freedom Rides” that began in May 1961, ESCRU announced a direct plan of action to combat racism and promote interracial harmony in the South: a multiracial group of clergy would undertake a “Prayer Pilgrimage,” traveling by bus from New Orleans, Louisiana, to the 1961 General Convention in Detroit, Michigan.

The pilgrims published their statement in a pamphlet for General Convention, stating that “the church must become, in every phase of its life, that which by the grace of God it is–one Holy Fellowship where racial barriers have been done away.” As a demonstration of this belief, they intended to visit segregated church institutions, such as All Saints College in Vicksburg and the University of the South in Sewanee.  Southern church leaders, while often supporting their goals, did not support their methods, arguing the pilgrims and their supporters should work for change through quiet negotiation rather than public demonstration.

On September 12, 1961, twenty-eight priests boarded a bus bound for Jackson, Mississippi.  The next day, fifteen of them were arrested in the Jackson bus terminal as they gathered together in a segregated waiting room.  As anticipated in John Morris’s letter to pilgrimage applicants, the majority of the group bonded out quickly and continued the pilgrimage; two others remained in jail, raising additional funds and keeping the story in the news.