Paterson, N.J., became a stop on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage 2026 on June 14. For Father Cesar Jaramillo, the local coordinator for the pilgrimage, the route the pilgrims are taking this year has special significance. It is named after St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, the patron saint of immigrants and the first American to be recognized by the Catholic Church as a saint.
Father Jaramillo hopes the pilgrimage will remind people in immigrant communities “that are suffering because of the current troubling times that we’re going through as a nation…that they’re not alone, that, as a church, we come together, and we gather around them to support them and lift them in prayer but also to remind them that our God is not indifferent to their plight.”
On July 4, hundreds of pilgrims will converge in Philadelphia for the final stop of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage 2026. After a six-week journey through all of the original 13 colonies, the Blessed Sacrament will be brought to the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years ago.
The National Eucharistic Congress first promoted the national pilgrimages in 2024 as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, an initiative sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to rekindle devotion to the Eucharist in the United States.
The 2026 pilgrimage began in St. Augustine, Fla., at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, the oldest continuously practicing parish in the United States. It then traveled up the east coast, stopping at dioceses in each state, and on Sunday June 14 it reached Paterson.
The Diocese of Paterson had been invited to host the pilgrims by Bishop Andrew Cozzens, chair of the National Eucharistic Congress, according to Father Jaramillo, who in addition to his role with the pilgrimage serves as pastor of Holy Spirit Church in Pequannock, N.J.
“I have a huge heart for evangelization,” Father Jaramillo said, “and I thought this was an amazing opportunity for our local church in Paterson to not only bear witness to our eucharistic faith but [to take part] in the eucharistic revival that has been going on around the nation for the past few years.”
The pilgrimage’s theme is “One Nation Under God,” which, according to the pilgrimage website, is “an invitation to realign our lives, communities, and country under the sovereignty of Christ.” For Jason Shanks, president of the National Eucharistic Congress, Mother Cabrini’s legacy is central to that idea.
“We just think that she is sort of a perfect model for this 250th anniversary [and] of our call as Catholics,” said Mr. Shanks. “And how this country’s still a country on pilgrimage.”
While people join the pilgrimage intermittently along the route, a group of “perpetual pilgrims” travel full-time with the Blessed Sacrament. Zachary Dotson and Mary Carmen Zakrajsek are two of the nine pilgrims who will spend six weeks traveling with the Eucharist. They both became involved with the pilgrimage after seeing parts of previous processions in Indianapolis.
“We are [a] people on pilgrimage,” said Mr. Dotson. “Striving each day to become that more perfect union, and the only way to do that is by centering ourselves and our leadership on Christ, on his teachings, on his church.”
In each diocese they process through, the pilgrims engage in service projects with the local community.
“We’ve been in prisons, we’ve been in shelters, we’ve been in food pantries, and so that’s part of the work of this,” said Mr. Shanks. “If you’re going to have a eucharistic focus, our call is to be broken for others, to be that ground-up bread.”
Pilgrims engage with both Catholics and non-Catholics along the route, often simply inviting them to watch the procession or join Mass. Ms. Zakrajsek highlighted an experience she had with a young man in North Carolina at Greensboro Urban Ministries.
“I was talking to a young man named Joshua, who was wearing a rosary and had never prayed the rosary before and so another pilgrim and I just got to talk to him about what the rosary is and the beauty of getting to reflect on the life of Mary and Jesus,” she said. “He was really eager to learn how [to pray it] and asked if we could write down the prayers for him.”
In Paterson, the pilgrims were similarly involved, encouraging people watching the procession to join and explaining what it was. A local Catholic youth ministry, Corazón Puro, was invited to join. The group works primarily with Spanish-speaking immigrant communities in New York and New Jersey, fostering youth leadership and chastity.
Msgr. Eugene R. Sylva is the rector of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, where the Paterson procession ended. He said that the large immigrant presence in Paterson is part of the reason he jumped at the chance to host.
“That was why I said we have to have the Eucharistic Procession here, to ask Mother Cabrini to pray for an immigrant community, which is my community,” he said. “To let them know that they’re special, they’re loved.”
The procession included members of the local community, Francisan friars, sisters and members of the Knights of Columbus.
“Our job is to protect, to guard and to walk with the Holy Eucharist,” said Hector Jimenez, assistant marshal in the procession and a district deputy in the New Jersey State Council of the Knights of Columbus. “It is a perfect opportunity for us to walk with the living Christ today.”
In the 1950s, the Knights of Columbus petitioned Congress to add the words “one nation under God” to the pledge of allegiance. The Knights are among the sponsors of the National Eucharistic Revival.
In January, the U.S.C.C.B., which spearheaded the revival, released its findings on the impact of its three-year effort. It reported “significant growth in Eucharistic devotion,” which included “increased participation in Eucharistic adoration and confession, greater reverence at Mass, and renewed confidence among clergy in preaching on the Real Presence.”
According to Mr. Shanks, the annual pilgrimages help Catholics feel connected to their religion and to God. In particular, he wants the pilgrimages to reach people who may not be able to attend the National Eucharistic Congress meetings.
“I think this is an opportunity for us to help the people of God feel seen,” he said, particularly in those communities not often reached by nation-wide campaigns like the revival.
The next Eucharistic Congress meeting will be in 2029, and Mr. Shanks hopes to continue these pilgrimages until that time.
“Maybe over time on a national level these fade because they become more normalized within the American church,” he said. “I just think post-Covid people are yearning for fellowship and belonging.”
The pilgrimage will continue along the east coast all the way up to Maine, before doubling back to Pennsylvania for its conclusion on Independence Day. The map was designed to visit dioceses that previous pilgrimages did not stop at, as well as to reflect America’s history. For Mr. Shanks, the history of Catholicism in America was a vital aspect of the pilgrimage and the revival as a whole.
“I think we often teach our American history through the lens of 13 colonies,” he said. “We really wanted to emphasize, particularly from a Catholic perspective, that Catholic history started way before 1776.”
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