Eucharistic pilgrimage planned for 2025, next congress before 2033

Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston announced on July 21, following the closing Mass of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, that a Eucharistic pilgrimage from Indianapolis to Los Angeles is being planned for the spring of 2025.

Congress organizers also considered holding an 11th National Eucharistic Congress in 2033, the “Year of Redemption,” 2,000 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, but they are now deciding whether to hold the event earlier, said Bishop Cozzens, chairman of the board of the National Eucharistic Congress, Inc., which organized the five-day congress and the preceding eight-week Eucharistic pilgrimage.

Few logistics have been finalized for next year’s pilgrimage, Bishop Cozzens told OSV News after the Mass. The route will likely pass through the American Southwest, culminating in a Corpus Christi Mass in Los Angeles with Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles.

With more than 4 million Catholics, Los Angeles has the largest Catholic population in the country.

“We decided that we want to continue this tradition of a national Eucharistic pilgrimage, and we are going to have one next year,” Bishop Cozzens said. “The goal is basically to continue the renewal that has been started by these Eucharistic pilgrimages.”

Regarding the timing of the next Eucharistic Congress, Bishop Cozzens said that congress organizers were inspired by “all the people at the Congress who said we should do this again, and when we told people we would do it in 2033, they said it was too late, that in nine years we would lose our momentum.”

He noted that this sentiment came from benefactors in Congress and from people who were involved from the beginning.

“Maybe it should be something like the Olympics, every four years,” he said. “I think the impact has definitely been greater than any of us expected. And because it’s had such an impact, we’re going to determine what the church is going to serve as we move forward.”

From May 17-18, during the Pentecost weekend, 30 young adult “perpetual pilgrims” traveled with the Eucharist along four routes, starting in California, Connecticut, Minnesota and Texas.

Together, they traveled through 27 states and 65 dioceses, covering a combined distance of 6,500 miles—much of it on foot—with the help of support vehicles. Their pilgrimage included daily stops at parishes, shrines, and Catholic institutions for Mass, Eucharistic processions, and adoration, experiencing the diversity of Catholicism in America along the way.

The pilgrims gathered in downtown Indianapolis on July 16, ahead of the National Eucharistic Congress, at St. John the Evangelist, a historic Catholic church directly across from the main entrance to the Indiana Convention Center. Speaking to OSV News, pilgrims described the experience as personally life-changing and described the profound effects it had on many who experienced the Eucharist through the church.

The pilgrimage and the conference are part of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative launched by the U.S. bishops in 2022 to increase understanding and love for Jesus in the Eucharist. The end of the conference will kick off the Year of Mission, during which the bishops encourage Catholics to “walk with one person” by sharing their faith and accompanying another person to better know Jesus and his love.

Maria Wiering is a senior writer for OSV News.