Young people who prepare to participate in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage of the United States 2025 They spoke at a press conference on Tuesday about their preparation and enthusiasm for the pilgrimage of 5,300 kilometers, which will begin this Sunday in Indianapolis.
The peregrinaciónwhich will last 36 days and will probably attract thousands of participants to accompany and worship Christ in the Eucharist, it is an answer to current cultural and spiritual needs, said Leslie Reyes-Hernández, pilgrim and secondary algebra teacher in Phoenix.
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“If something, I think this (pilgrimage) is an invitation to something that the world is hungry to receive, and the Eucharist is our anchor, and pilgrimage is a public expression of hope,” he said.
Reyes-Hernández is One of the eight young pilgrims that they will seek to give public testimony of the truth that Christ is really present in the Blessed Sacrament, accompanying the Eucharist throughout the journey from Indianapolis to Los Angeles, crossing 10 states and participating in numerous special events.
The pilgrims will be accompanied by a rotating group of Capellanes priests, and any person who wishes to join some part of the route may register for free.
The preparation for this unique experience of pilgrimage on foot has involved both spiritual and practical aspects, and the pilgrims expressed their hope that experience has a lasting impact on their lives and allows them to continue sharing their faith with others. The team has gathered weekly for spiritual formation sessions and to strengthen group cohesion.
Rachel Levy, who works for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis serving young Catholic adults, described her preparation “spiritually, trying to maintain a life of constant prayer”, attending daily mass and spending time in worship. In the practical, he has been “trying to walk a little more than normal”, preparing for the long periods outdoors and getting “good shoes for walking.”
When asked what the Eucharist has done in his life, Levy related a moment of worship in front of the tabernac constant”.
Johnathan “Johnny” Silvino Hernández-José, who lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and helps direct her family’s construction company, said she anticipates challenges during the pilgrimage: “Walk every day, talk every day, lack of sleep.” He described a previous experience of Pilgrimage on foot during the World Youth Day 2023 in Portugal that marked it deeply.
“Emotionally, perhaps we feel a bit exhausted,” he said, anticipating the intensity of constant interaction during pilgrimage and the need to manage social energy. He also mentioned overcoming personal shyness and not being too hard with himself before any difficulty. However, he said that he sees the pilgrimage as a “walking with Christ, the trust we put in Him and the love we have.”
“The root of this is spiritual,” Hernández-José continued. “I think that when challenges arise, all we can do is trust God and pray together. And, honestly, for me, what I like to do is simply offer it, you know?”
Stephen Fuhrmann, next to graduate from the Texas A&M University, said he is excited to start the pilgrimage and, along with his teammates, “simply be thrown into a truck and have to live together with Jesus, and what is so beautiful.”
Fuhrmann said he was inspired by the testimony of the pilgrim of 2024 Charlie McCullough, who returns as a team leader in 2025. He hopes to know “the stories and lives of others and how each of us has found Jesus in a very special way.”
“Then, also, bringing that to the people we find who we want to show who Jesus Christ is in the Eucharist, is something extremely exciting,” said Fuhrmann.
Arthur “Ace” Acuña, who works in the University Pastoral at Princeton University, was attracted to the pilgrimage for the fundamental role that the Eucharist had on his own return to faith and his desire to “see Jesus do what he knows best to do, which is to attract everything towards himself.”
He said he hopes “to see people fall in love with him … falling in love with the Eucharist and the love he offers them, because he is happening close. And just as in the gospels, he met so many people.”
Acuña also stressed the importance, especially during the current jubilee year of hope, to bring Jesus not only to cities and rural areas, but also to prisons and other places where suffering or isolation is experienced, seeing it as a “testimony that Jesus wants to meet everyone” and bring healing and “light to dark places.”
Frances Webber, originally from Virginia but currently lives in Minnesota, is the university student of the last year of theology and businesses. He said he hopes, through the pilgrimage, to reach those who question his faith and remind them that “Jesus does not want to disappoint you; he will not disappoint you.”
How to participate
The Pilgrimage of 2025 begins on Sunday, May 18 with an opening mass in the St. John parish in Indianapolis. This year’s pilgrimage is a continuation of the four unpublished Eucharistic Pilgrimages Simultaneous last year, which began at the ends of the country and finally converged in Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress, in July 2024.
The Drexel 2025 route, appointed in honor of Santa Catalina Drexel (1858–1955), will take the procession through 10 states – including the two most populated, California and Texas – as well as by 20 Catholic dioceses and four Eastern Catholic Eparchies.
At stops along the road, which include numerous sanctuaries and cathedralsmasses will be held in several languages and liturgical styles, including the traditional Mass in Latin, Gospel choir, praise and worship, Vietnamese and Spanish, representing five different rites of the Church.
In tune with the current Jubilee Year of Esperanza, the approach of the Drexel route is “hope and healing”, with planned visits not only to churches, but also to prisons and asylums.
Projects have been scheduled service and meetings with the poor and in needincluding opportunities to serve homeless people, visit hospices and participate in a service project with Catholic Charisies.
Masses and special prayers will be held by the victims of the plane crash in Wichita, Kansas; in the Memorial of the Oklahoma City attack; on the southern border; and in areas affected by forest fires in Los Angeles. Numerous saints and blessed are linked to planned stops, such as the tomb of the Venerable Fulton Sheen in Illinois and the Blessed Stanuary Stanley Rother in Oklahoma City.
The public events calendar for each diocese along the Drexel route is now available On the website of the National Eucharistic Congress. The intentions of prayer so that perpetual pilgrims take them with them on their trip can be sent here.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Jonah McKeown
Jonah McKeown is editor and producer of Podcasts of Catholic News Agency. He has a master’s degree from the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri and has worked as a writer, radio producer and cameraman.