‘All Gifts From God’: Crowds, Connection, Conversion Mark National Pilgrimage’s First Week

[Michie]

Pilgrims on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage's St. Juan Diego Route process in Kingsville, Texas, May 23, 2024. Perpetual pilgrims began traveling the Juan Diego Route May 19 and plan to arrive in Indianapolis ahead of the National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21. (OSV New photo/courtesy Diocese of Corpus Christi)

(OSV News) — In their first week, pilgrims on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage have faced blisters, a busted toe and thunderstorms, but those “hiccups” along the routes are “all gifts from God,” said Jack Krebs, a perpetual pilgrim on the pilgrimage’s St. Junipero Serra Route.

As the pilgrims make their way to Indianapolis with the Eucharist, Krebs said he is amazed at the number of people showing up for processions or adoration. In San Francisco, where the Serra Route launched May 18, an estimated 4,000 people walked in a Eucharistic procession over the Golden Gate Bridge following Mass May 19.
Krebs has witnessed “the excitement that the people are showing for the Eucharist,” he said during a May 22 media conference, “and I really do trust that it is having a bigger impact on their hearts.”

On May 18-19, Krebs and 22 other young adults chosen to be perpetual pilgrims, along with seven seminarians and a rotating cadre of chaplains, began the pilgrimage in four groups from Brownsville, Texas; New Haven, Connecticut; Northern Minnesota; and San Francisco.

Over the next eight weeks, they are journeying — often by foot but always with the Eucharist — to Indianapolis, where the first National Eucharistic Congress in 83 years takes place at Lucas Oil Stadium July 17-21.

The pilgrimage and the congress are highlights of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative the U.S. bishops launched in 2022 to inspire deeper love for and understanding of Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist.

Continued below.

‘All gifts from God’: Crowds, connection, conversion mark national pilgrimage’s first week - OSV News

(OSV News) -- In their first week, pilgrims on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage have faced blisters, a busted toe and thunderstorms, but those "hiccups" along the routes are "all gifts from God," said Jack Krebs, a perpetual pilgrim on the pilgrimage's St. Junipero Serra Route. As the...

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