Pilgrims embark on National Eucharistic Pilgrimage as they head towards their final destination with two weeks to go – Catholic Standard

Pilgrims on the four routes of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage are approaching Indianapolis. The group following the northern Marian Route arrived in Indiana on July 1. Pilgrims on the other three routes enter the state the week of July 7, after which they will gather in the capital in preparation for the National Eucharistic Congress, July 17-21.

“It’s really amazing that they’re focused” on their final destination, said Will Peterson, president of Modern Catholic Pilgrim, the Minnesota-based nonprofit that runs the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. “It’s hard to believe.”

The pilgrims spent Independence Day on four different routes: Michigan City and St. John’s (Indiana), Cincinnati, Jefferson City (Missouri) and the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist (Kentucky). The influential monk, mystic and writer Father Thomas Merton lived here from 1941 until his death in 1968.

Over the past week, pilgrims on the four routes have visited 10 dioceses. The northern Marian Route pilgrims weaved through the Archdiocese of Chicago, beginning their time there at Mundelein Seminary with a procession, adoration and a youth mass, and ending with a mass at Holy Name Cathedral downtown with Cardinal Blase J. Cupich. Two recent stops highlighted the diversity within the Catholic Church, with a June 30 liturgy celebrated by Bishop Mar Joy Alappatt at the Syro-Malabar-rite cathedral in Bellwood before entering the Diocese of Gary, Indiana, where pilgrims attended adoration on July 1 at St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Whiting. On July 5, the Marian Route pilgrims were scheduled to enter the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, with pilgrims spending two days at the University of Notre Dame.

Pilgrims on the Southern St. Juan Diego Route traveled through the Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee, from June 25 to 30, and through the Diocese of Owensboro, Kentucky, from June 30 to July 3. On July 4, they arrived in the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, with an overnight stay at the Abbey of Gethsemani.

On the western St. Junipero Serra Route, pilgrims spent June 25-29 in the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas; June 29-July 1 in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri; and July 1-5 in the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri. They planned to enter the Archdiocese of St. Louis on July 5, where they will stay for two days before continuing on to the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois, on July 7.

On the eastern St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Route, pilgrims spent June 24-30 in the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, and July 1-8 in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

In mid-June, the 30 regular pilgrims—young adults who walked the full routes—marked the halfway point of the eight-week pilgrimage, which began over Pentecost weekend May 18-19 in Brownsville, Texas; New Haven, Connecticut; San Francisco; and at the headwaters of the Mississippi River in northern Minnesota.

On the southern St. Juan Diego Route, the milestone itself passed without much fanfare, pilgrims said, but a three-day retreat at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama, proved a welcome change. Pilgrims on all four routes took multi-day retreats around the pilgrimage’s midpoint.

“The halfway point was fascinating because it felt like we had been on the road for a day and 10 years at the same time,” Charlie McCullough, a perpetual pilgrim on the Juan Diego Route, said during a media interview on June 26. “Every day on the pilgrimage, there’s this tension between things moving very quickly, but also being constantly in the present moment. And that makes everything seem so long.

“I think there was a general attitude on behalf of the (Southern Route) team that we were very happy with the first half of the pilgrimage,” he continued. “We were very satisfied or happy, but we also want more. We want to continue walking with the Lord and meeting people, and even though we were almost hitting a wall of exhaustion, we want to continue pouring out and visiting the Lord’s people and bringing Him to them.”

The routes will converge on Indianapolis on July 16 for Mass at St. John the Evangelist, a historic downtown parish adjacent to Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center, the sites of the National Eucharistic Congress. The parish plans to host Eucharistic Adoration throughout the congress, serving as what event organizers call a “spiritual hub.” The following day, the perpetual pilgrims will enter Lucas Oil Stadium in procession as part of the congress’ opening event.

With the pilgrimage only two weeks away, Peterson said he has been amazed since the first week by the number of Catholics who have joined the many Eucharistic processions.

“I don’t think I was prepared for how the public would react to the public processions and what that would mean,” he said.

“Even in the first week in Minnesota, when I heard that about 200 people showed up for a procession in a town of 150 people — that immediate response,” he continued. “I was not prepared for a priest to outfit a truck as a Eucharistic Procession mobile in Oregon. And then in Idaho, when I found out that a parishioner, without even consulting anyone, had converted his 18-wheeler into a flatbed for the bishop and the first communicants to ride in. Just the way that people took ownership of it was so incredible and humbling, because it made it possible.”

Peterson described how deeply moved he was by the June 28 visit of the Seton Route pilgrims to Pickaway Correctional Institution in Orient, Ohio, for a Mass and procession. The visit also included confessions and Eucharistic adoration.

“Jesus is really everywhere,” he said. “This is the body of Christ.”

While pilgrims on other routes prayed outside the prisons during their journeys, the Seton pilgrims were able to enter the prison for Mass with about 35 imprisoned men. About 25 men were able to participate in a procession after Mass, according to The Catholic Timesthe media outlet of the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio.

They were joined by Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of Columbus, who told the men in his homily that “there is nothing in the world that can keep the grace of Jesus and the love of Jesus from you. Not even the walls of this place,” The Catholic Times reported.

In a video interview posted on July 1 by The good news editorial teamthe digital news platform of the Archdiocese of New York, Zoe Dongas, a perpetual pilgrim on the Seton Route, said pilgrims feel like “the end is in sight.”

Dongas spoke about the pilgrimage to the Camino de Santiago, the popular pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James in Compostela, Spain: “A lot of people talk about how when they’re on the Camino, they start sobbing and get really excited when they see the church at the end of the walk, and they know it’s finally over. I think a lot of people on our team are starting to feel that already.”

Arriving at the National Eucharistic Congress will be “a very beautiful moment,” she said, “because we made it, and we made it with Jesus, and He is resurrected and led to this Congress.”