CHARLOTTE — The inaugural Carolina Camino pilgrimage, a 10-day, 145-mile walk from Asheville to Charlotte in honor of the Jubilee Year 2025 was a success, and its participants are gearing up for their next adventure.
The walk started on Aug. 26 at St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville and ended on Sept. 5 at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte, hitting all three Jubilee Year pilgrimage sites in the diocese and arriving just in time for the 21st Eucharistic Congress.
The seven pilgrims physically battled the terrain while being spiritually uplifted by their quiet walk with God. The group motivated one another through fellowship, food and prayer, while they encountered others who boosted their comfort and confidence along the way.
The idea for the journey came from Sacred Heart parishioners James and Melinda Osborne. The couple spent their 30-year anniversary weaving through Portugal and Spain, traveling a route more than 400,000 pilgrims trek each year to trace the footsteps of St. James the Apostle on the El Camino Santiago. They decided to bring their experience to western North Carolina.
They spent months mapping out routes, collaborating with five local churches, two monasteries, and four local businesses to trailblaze a footpath from Asheville to Charlotte. Along the way, they launched a non-profit organization, Carolina Camino Inc.
Pilgrim Josh Martin, a parishioner at St. Therese in Mooresville, plans to do it again next year.
“It was transformative.” Martin said. “It was the hardest and most amazing thing I probably have done so far in my life.”
While their journey had peaks and valleys, the pilgrims said they kept God as their focus.
As Martin said, “You have a lot of time to yourself, and in those moments, I felt a deep spiritual connection with God.”
There were sacrifices along the way. Melinda Osborne and Eva Frank gave up screen time, and Martin fasted from coffee. They said the worldly things, so prominent in their everyday lives, had little impact on their trail adventures.
“If you walk with Christ all the time and know that He is there and you love Him and trust Him, you have that hope,” Melinda Osborne said. “You think to yourself, ‘Lord, how am I going to make it until tomorrow?’ But every single morning with the rising of the sun, I felt Christ in my heart. You could see His beauty everywhere you walked.
It is so funny how grateful you become for a sidewalk or a two-second sliver of shade or the clothes on your back. It’s crazy to think about what we take for granted in our everyday life.”
Fatigue, hunger and muscle aches made some question if they could finish, but it was in those moments of defeat that the Lord led the way.
“Two days ago, I thought I couldn’t go on,” said 72-year-old Karen Perry, a parishioner at St. Mark in Huntersville who had issues with her knee. “But here I am at the finish line.”
They were not marathon runners or adventure seekers, just a diverse group of Catholics who were up for a spiritual and physical challenge. Along the way, they met priests, sisters, monks and new friends. They prayed, feasted and laughed with the Benedictine Sisters in Rutherfordton’s Monastery. They attended Mass and slept in the parish hall of Immaculate Conception in Forest City and sang vespers with the monks at Belmont Abbey.
Though they occasionally stopped and smelled wisteria, the world did not halt for them. Death and life continued; Osborne's daughter-in-law gave birth to a new grandchild, while another pilgrim heard news of a dear friend’s death.
They treaded on, rosaries in hand, chanting through public streets, praising God for a drop of water, and sharing in a small portion of His suffering through the blisters on their heels and swollen knees.
“I learned what I was capable of with God. I never would have thought that I could have walked that distance, especially without years of preparation,” Martin said. “It is something I really didn’t think I could do, but with God anything is possible.”
They met the unhoused, people still devastated by Tropical Storm Helen’s wrath, and encountered people who wondered why the curious group lay outstretched on their manicured lawns pouring bottles of water on their heads.
The people they met told their own stories of hardship and struggles, while asking for selfies and prayers.
“Through our walk we laughed together, we cried together, and through one another, we gained a forever friendship,” said Melina Osborne.
— Lisa M Geraci and Brian Segovia
