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In March 2017, Will Peterson and his friend David Cable stepped out Peterson's front door in Lexington, Ky., to begin a pilgrimage. Their destination was the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani, some 70 miles away.
The journey is 75 minutes by car along the Bluegrass Parkway, but the friends didn't drive. Instead, with backpacks and hiking books, they walked the route, in rain and shine, relying on strangers' hospitality along the way.
The experience led to Peterson and Cable in 2019 co-founding Modern Catholic Pilgrim, a Twin Cities-based nonprofit organizing the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage that begins mid-May. Four groups of pilgrims will travel — mostly by foot — from routes beginning in the north, south, east and west of the country, converging in Indianapolis ahead of the National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21.
The pilgrims will accompany a monstrance displaying the Eucharist the entire way, making their walk somewhat of an eight-week Eucharistic procession through mountains, plains, cities and countryside.
The undertaking is massive, but Peterson — Modern Catholic Pilgrim's president — said he is working with pilgrimage coordinators in the 65 dioceses the pilgrims will pass through to secure their housing and meals, and to plan special events such as Mass and adoration wherever they stay.
Each route has been locally mapped out and traveled to ensure there are no unexpected obstacles, such as freeway walls or road construction. Local coordinators also are, when needed, working with local authorities to make large-scale processions possible. While smaller events are planned nightly, each weekend of the pilgrimage places the pilgrims in a city, where Mass, adoration and other celebrations are planned.
Part of the three-year National Eucharistic Revival underway, the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is by far the largest project Peterson, 31, and his small team have worked on. The central focus is small pilgrimages — sometimes mere city blocks — that focus on local religious sites, such as churches.
Modern Catholic Pilgrim also organizes pilgrimages to established U.S. shrines that commemorate the country's saints, including St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. John Neumann and St. Junípero Serra, as well as places that honor the men and women who have saint causes underway, such as Father Augustus Tolton.
While many Catholics associate pilgrimage with trips to Jerusalem, Lourdes, France or Rome, Peterson hopes Modern Catholic Pilgrim can simplify the idea and act of pilgrimage. With a prayerful disposition and intention, even a walk to watch the sunset and marvel at God's majesty could be a pilgrimage, he said.
Walking pilgrimages have a long tradition in Europe and the Holy Land. One of the best known is the Way of St. James, a network of pilgrimage routes that lead to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where St. James the Apostle is buried. Peterson realizes those historical pilgrimages are out of reach for many U.S. Catholics.
"For the rest of us," he asked, "why not take part in this wonderful tradition? ... Let's highlight these sites in the United States that you can make a pilgrimage to; let's create that biblical hospitality connection where you've got people who have that prayer charism of hospitality ... and then let's have young people experience that hospitality."
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