May 19-21

During the summer of 2024, an unprecedented National Eucharistic Pilgrimage moved from the four corners of the United States to Indianapolis, culminating in the 10th National Eucharistic Congress. Given the outpouring of stories involving our Eucharistic Lord's healing, conversion, unity, and peace along the 2024 pilgrimage routes, the committee has decided to keep the momentum going in 2025!

As the three-year National Eucharistic Revival in the United States draws to a close on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, pilgrims are invited to join the St. Katharine Drexel Route from Indianapolis to Los Angeles and pray before the Blessed Sacrament along the way.

The 2025 Drexel Route opens with a Mass of Thanksgiving in Indianapolis on Sunday, May 18th. The team will travel with the Blessed Sacrament through parts of the Midwest before heading to Texas and along the states of the Southwestern United States.  This year's pilgrimage route will include numerous opportunities to encounter Jesus, including daily Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Eucharistic Processions, witness talks, and fellowship meals with the Perpetual Pilgrims.

The pilgrimage will visit the tomb of Venerable Servant of God Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother, and stop at several missions in Southern California. Another highlight of the journey is a stop at St. Michael Church near Window Rock, which is the capital of Navajo Nation. The St. Katharine Drexel route comes to an inspiring conclusion during Corpus Christi weekend in Los Angeles, where we will process with our Lord around the downtown Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

St. Katharine Drexel came from a devout and wealthy family who used their material goods to serve those in need. After discerning a call to the religious life, she founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. This order was dedicated to serving the Indian American and African American populations.

By the time of her death in 1955, Mother Katharine had used the funds from her inheritance to build a vast network of 50 missions and over 60 schools, with 500 sisters teaching in them. She was canonized a saint in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.
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St. Katharine Drexel, pray for us!

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage will engage the universality of the Church as the Perpetual Pilgrims travel with the Blessed Sacrament across the country, stopping at churches in both urban and rural areas.  Priests will offer Mass in many languages, in different rites of the Church, and with various liturgical musical styles. Our pilgrims will serve along the route, bringing our Eucharistic Lord to the margins, including encountering those in nursing homes, food banks, and a federal prison.

Participating Dioceses

• Archdiocese of Indianapolis
  May 18

• Diocese of Joliet
  May 18 - May 19

• Diocese of Peoria
  May 19 - May 21

• Diocese of Davenport
  May 21 - May 23

• Archdiocese of Dubuque
  May 23 - May 27

• Diocese of Des Moines
  May 27

• Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph
  May 27

• Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas
  May 27

• Diocese of Wichita
  May 28 - May 30

• Diocese of Tulsa
  May 30 - May 31

• Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
  May 31 - June 3

• Diocese of Dallas
  Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh (Irving, TX)
  June 3 - June 5

• Diocese of Fort Worth
  June 5 - June 7

• Diocese of San Angelo
  June 7 - June 10

• Diocese of El Paso
  June 10 - June 11

• Diocese of Las Cruces
  June 11 - June 12

• Diocese of Gallup
  June 12 - June 13

• Diocese of San Bernardino
  St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Chicago (Grand Terrace, CA)
  June 14 - June 16

• Diocese of San Diego
  Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Nicholas of Chicago (San Diego, CA)
  June 16 - June 18

• Diocese of Orange
  Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton (Placentia, CA)
  June 18 - June 20

Archdiocese of Los Angeles
June 20 - June 22

While everyone is invited to register to walk with the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage for short distances or join us for one of the many events scheduled along the way, only a few young adults will make the full journey to Los Angeles. We call them Perpetual Pilgrims.

This small, dedicated group will travel full-time from mid-May through the end of June, accompanying Jesus as he draws near to countless communities across the nation.

Learn more about each Perpetual Pilgrim below, and be sure to keep them in your prayers as they accompany Jesus on the road!

Click here to submit a prayer intention for them to carry on their journey to Los Angeles.

The Perpetual Pilgrims would be honored to carry your prayer intentions across the country and present them to Jesus.  The pilgrims will place your intentions at the altar during the offertory at the Corpus Christi Mass in Los Angeles.

Submit Prayer Request

Yes! It will go through the Diocese of Peoria May 19 - 21, 2025. 

May 19: Seneca, Utica, La Salle 

May 20: El Paso, Morton, Bloomington, Peoria 

May 21: Peoria; Galesburg, Monmouth, Gulfport

There are several components through the Eucharistic Pilgrimage:

Formal Processions

In most cases the procession will start with a Mass. Following the distribution of Communion, the presider will say the Prayer after Communion, and then incense the Blessed Sacrament. The procession will then form and will proceed to the next church or pit stop. 

Prayer Stops

The Pilgrimage will stop along several churches along the way offering a brief moment of prayer, reflection, and a blessing.

Sheen Day is the day of the Eucharistic Pilgrimage dedicated to the life and memory of Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen. The day will begin at his birthplace in El Paso and end at his tomb in Peoria. Click here for more details about the day. 

You are also welcome to visit the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Museum, located at the Spalding Pastoral Center, 419 NE Madison Avenue in Peoria. 

• Open from 9AM to 6PM

• Largest collection of Fulton Sheen artifacts

• Watch a 1 hour movie about his life (in the museum)

• Visit the museum gift shop

• Free Parking

There are several ways to participate. 

• The first is to pray: pray for the pilgrims, the intentions they are carrying, and for the Diocese of Peoria. 

•  Join us at Mass. There are several locations where Mass will be celebrated. Click here for the locations and schedule of Masses.

• Join us for prayer at a Pit Stop. There are several Pit Stop locations. Click here for locations and schedule of Pit Stops.

Not necessarily. You are welcome to just show up! If you want to be on an email list for the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, you can register here.

The faithful will be able to obtain a plenary indulgence granted by the Holy Father if they partake in a pious pilgrimage to any sacred pilgrimage site:

What is an indulgence? 

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church: An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions thought the actions of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority and treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints. An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin. The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead.” (CCC #1471)

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage Indulgence is a plenary indulgence. The Church’s usual conditions for gaining an indulgence apply in connection with the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. 

What are the usual conditions for receiving an indulgence? 

•  Be in a state of grace and have the interior disposition of complete detachment from sin

• Sacrament of Confession

• Reception of Holy Communion

•  Prayer for the Pope’s Intentions

It is appropriate, but not necessary, that the sacramental Confession and especially Holy Communion and the prayer for the Pope's intentions take place on the same day that the indulgenced work is performed; but it is sufficient that these sacred rites and prayers be carried out within several days before or after the indulgenced act.