CHARLOTTE — The 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is stopping at four parishes in the Diocese of Charlotte on a special route that will travel the East Coast from St. Augustine, Florida, to Portland, Maine, ending in Philadelphia.
The pilgrimage – the third of its kind – will begin in May on Memorial Day weekend and end July 5. This year’s pilgrimage celebrates America’s 250th anniversary with the theme “One Nation Under God,” and its route incorporates key sites in the history of the country and its Catholics.
Locally, the pilgrimage will journey from Our Lady of Grace in Indian Land, South Carolina, to Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe on the afternoon of Saturday, May 30. Stops will follow at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte, St. Philip the Apostle Church in Statesville and St. Pius X Church in Greensboro.
Non-public events that are not advertised on the pilgrimage website, are still being planned. Initial plans include a “Meet the Pilgrims” event from on Sunday, May 31, at St. Peter Church in Charlotte, and a young adult event later that evening at a time and location to be determined. A service project in Greensboro is in the works for the morning of June 2 before the pilgrims continue on to Richmond, Virginia.
Organizers described the pilgrimage as “a nationwide call to renewal, unity and mission rooted in the Eucharist.” They noted that 2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the lobbying campaign, led by the Knights of Columbus, to add the phrase “One nation under God” to the nation’s Pledge of Allegiance.
“One Nation Under God is not a borrowed slogan; rather, it is an invitation to realign our lives, our communities and our country under the sovereignty of Jesus Christ,” said Jason Shanks, president of the National Eucharistic Congress.
The nonprofit National Eucharistic Congress organizes the pilgrimage, which first took place in 2024 ahead of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis as part of the National Eucharistic Revival.
“Our hope is that Catholics will come together on this significant anniversary to give thanks for our country and to pray for our future,” said Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress.
The pilgrimage has been placed under the patronage of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, an Italian-American immigrant and the first U.S. citizen to be canonized a saint. It will also take place in solidarity with the U.S. bishops’ call to consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The pilgrimage will start Memorial Day weekend in St. Augustine, the site of the first Mass on American soil in 1565, and end in Philadelphia with events planned July 4-5.
The pilgrimage will also connect with a national prayer campaign and digital lecture series “that highlights themes and topics of America through a Catholic lens and framework,” organizers said.
— OSV News and Catholic News Herald
How to participate
Don’t miss this historic event!
The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage will stop in the Diocese of Charlotte at:
1. SATURDAY, MAY 30 – Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe: Eucharistic Adoration from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., followed by 5 p.m. Mass
2. SUNDAY, MAY 31 – St. Peter Church in Charlotte: Mass with Bishop Michael Martin at 9 a.m., followed by a meet-and-greet with the pilgrims
3. SUNDAY, MAY 31 –St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte: 2 p.m. Spanish Mass, followed by Eucharistic Adoration and procession
4. MONDAY, JUNE 1 – St. Philip the Apostle Church in Statesville: 9 a.m. Mass, followed by Eucharistic Adoration
5. MONDAY-TUESDAY, JUNE 1-2 – St. Pius X Church in Greensboro: 4-5 p.m. Eucharistic Adoration and procession from 3:45-4:15 p.m., followed by 5:15 p.m. Mass; and 8:30 a.m. Mass on Tuesday, June 2. (Consider bringing a non-perishable item for the Greensboro Urban Ministry Food Pantry.)
Note: Parishes may add other events – please see each parish’s website or bulletin for details.
National Eucharistic Pilgrimage seeks to be a sacred journey for US at 250 years
The upcoming National Eucharistic Pilgrimage -- which takes place as the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2026 -- marks a moment for "a country still in conversion," and "a country still on pilgrimage," said Jason Shanks, president of the National Eucharistic Congress organization.
Shanks joined pilgrimage organizers, along with several of its nine perpetual pilgrims, for an online March 25 press conference announcing further details of the event, which takes place May 24 through July 5.
With a theme of "One Nation Under God," the route will run from Florida to Maine, spanning more than 2,200 miles in most of the nation's 13 original colonies. Over the course of 43 days, pilgrims will travel through 18 dioceses and archdioceses, as well as two Eastern Catholic eparchies.
Nine perpetual pilgrims will accompany the Blessed Sacrament, with public events -- including Masses, Holy Hours, sacred music concerts, talks and charitable outreach -- taking place along the way.
Pilgrimage organizers are inviting the faithful to participate in a spiritual bouquet of 250,000 Holy Hours, with a signup form available on the pilgrimage website, eucharisticpilgrimage.org/one-nation-under-god.
The spiritual bouquet will be presented in the nation's capital as a sign of "prayers for peace in our world, for unity and peace in our country, and for God's hand to continue to guide all of those in the United States," said Shanks.
The 2026 pilgrimage, which continues the 2024 and 2025 journeys undertaken as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, has been placed under the patronage of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the woman religious and Italian immigrant who became the first U.S. citizen to be canonized after a lifetime of work ministering to immigrants.
Along with Mother Cabrini, other holy men and women who will be commemorated throughout the pilgrimage are St. Katharine Drexel, the Philadelphia banking heiress who founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and served Black American and American Indian communities; St. John Neumann, the Bavarian-born Redemptorist who as bishop of Philadelphia established the nation's parochial school system, as well as the Forty Hours devotion; and the soon-to-be-beatified Georgia Martyrs, six Spanish Franciscans who were slain while missioning to the Indigenous Guale people in the late 16th century.
The stops along the Cabrini Route will highlight sites significant to Catholicism's contributions to U.S. history, said Shanks.
"Before there was a Constitution, there was a consecration," he said, pointing to Masses celebrated on the territory of what would later become the U.S.
Historians have cited a number of such liturgies, including Masses reported to have taken place in 1541 in the future states of Kansas and Texas, and the Sept. 8, 1565, liturgy celebrated by Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales at the site of present-day St. Augustine, Florida.
In 1664, the London-born Jesuit Father Andrew White celebrated Mass in the Maryland colony.
"We're excited to unite our country in memory of its history and to sort of explore the Catholic contribution to this American experiment," Shanks said.
Among the pilgrimage events honoring the nation's development will be a Eucharistic procession through historical Williamsburg, Virginia; a blessing from Arlington Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River in Washington, with a procession past national landmarks in the capital; Eucharistic adoration in Pilgrim Memorial State Park in Plymouth, Massachusetts; and a crossing of the Delaware River into New Jersey -- a nod to George Washington, who led 2,500 Continental Army troops across the body of water on Christmas night in 1776, surprising enemy Hessian troops, mercenaries of the British empire, and securing major U.S. victories in the Revolutionary War.
The pilgrimage concludes with Mass and a Eucharistic procession over the July 4 holiday weekend in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and which served as the nation's capital from 1790 to 1800, when the new city of Washington became the nation's seat of government.
Pilgrim Zachary Dotson said at the press conference that "the real beauty" of the theme "One Nation Under God" lies in "the great humility that it takes to truly believe that and follow that."
"There's nothing more healing than God's divine mercy and love, which is open and available to all people," he said.
— Gina Christian, OSV News