Category: Diocese of Scranton News

DUSHORE — The Altar & Rosary Society of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish invites all area faithful to participate in a special Lenten retreat, “A Day of Grace: In Honor of Our Lady,” on Saturday, March 14, to be hosted at the parish worship site of Saint Francis of Assisi Church in Mildred.

Offered as an opportunity for spiritual renewal during Lent, the day of prayer, reflection, and sacramental grace will be led by Capuchin Franciscan Father Pio Mandato and the Capuchin Sisters of Nazareth.

The mission retreat, commemorating the special Jubilee Year of Saint Francis, proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi, will focus on prayer and sacraments to align with the spirit and intentions of the Jubilee Year.

The retreat day opens at 8:30 a.m. with registration in Saint Francis church hall, followed by recitation of the Rosary, celebration of Mass, and guest presentation in the church. A light lunch will be provided in the hall.

The afternoon portion of the retreat will offer adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Sacrament of Reconciliation, additional reflection, and benediction with the relic of Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina.

All faithful are welcome free of charge; a free-will offering will be accepted.

Pre-registration is requested for planning purposes. For reservations, call Karen at (570) 637-6607.

 

SCRANTON – The annual Saint Patrick’s Parade Day Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 14, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

All are welcome to attend.

The liturgy is traditionally held in conjunction with the city of Scranton’s annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. Following the Mass, the Saint Patrick’s Parade is expected to take to the streets of the Electric City beginning at 11:45 a.m.

The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will serve as principal celebrant for the Mass. Various priests from the Diocese of Scranton are expected to concelebrate.

The Mass will be broadcast live on CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton due to the generosity of the Society of Irish Women.

It will also be livestream on the Diocese of Scranton YouTube channel and website. Links to view the Mass will also be shared on all of the Diocese of Scranton social media platforms.

The Mass will be rebroadcast several times the following week, including Tuesday, March 17 and Wednesday, March 18.

Among the other local organizations that participate in the annual Saint Patrick’s Parade Day Mass are the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick, Irish American Men’s Association, Irish Cultural Society, Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Saint Patrick’s Parade Association of Lackawanna County.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., announced March 11 he has introduced legislation in the Senate that would ban mifepristone, a drug commonly, but not exclusively, used for first trimester abortion.

The Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act, if enacted, would revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug.

However, the path forward for the legislation was not clear, as President Donald Trump indicated as a candidate for president in 2024 he would veto a national abortion ban if one reached his desk. Abortion restrictions have failed to gain traction in Congress since the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned its previous precedent that held abortion as a constitutional right.

“We’ve known for years that mifepristone is risky, but it’s really just in the last few years that we’ve learned this drug is inherently dangerous, and it’s inherently prone to abuse,” Hawley said in remarks at the Capitol March 11.

Proponents of the drug argue it is statistically safe for a woman to take, and attempts to restrict it are an attempt to ban abortion outright. In contrast, opponents argue there are significant risks to those who take it, particularly outside of medical settings, in addition to ending the life of an unborn child.

Hawley argued, “Only Congress can address this situation.”

“Only Congress can withdraw the FDA approval rendered way back in the Clinton administration for this drug that has proved to be inherently dangerous and inherently prone to abuse. Only Congress can act,” he argued.

FDA officials pledged mifepristone would undergo a safety review. However, the status and timeline of the FDA’s review is unclear.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has asked multiple judges to pause state lawsuits seeking to roll back Biden administration-era eased restrictions on mifepristone, arguing those court cases would interfere with its review. In one such filing in Louisiana, the Justice Department said such reviews often take one year.

The FDA also recently approved a new generic form of the drug.

Mifepristone, the first of two drugs used in a medication-based abortion, was approved by the FDA in 2000, and gained the moniker “the abortion pill.” Medication abortions, sometimes called chemical abortions, account for the majority of abortions in the U.S., according to multiple studies.

Pro-life opponents of mifepristone have pushed the Trump administration to roll back eased restrictions on the drug implemented by the Biden administration. Over a year into Trump’s second term, the Trump administration has thus far left that regulation in place.

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death and, as such, opposes direct abortion. Church leaders have called for restricting mifepristone’s use in abortion, while noting that the drug’s more recent usage in medical protocols for miscarriage care, where an unborn child has passed away of natural causes, would be a morally legitimate scenario.

ROME (OSV News) – The Vatican has published the final report of the synod study group examining women’s participation in the Church, which calls for expanded roles for women in Church governance and leadership in roles not including ordained ministry.

The 75-page document, published in English and Italian on March 10, discusses women’s leadership in the Church, but not the specific question of a possible female diaconate.

It is the third of 15 final reports expected from the study groups of the Synod on Synodality in the coming weeks. Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, has characterized these reports as “working documents” which will be used to form proposals submitted to the pope for consideration.

— A ‘charismatic path’ for women

In the document, the study group calls for “new spaces” for women to exercise leadership in evangelization and administration in collaboration with ordained ministers.

“Alongside the sacramental path and distinct from it, there is also a charismatic path that can be fruitfully pursued to open new spaces of participation for the lay faithful, particularly for women,” it states. “It follows that even in the exercise of governance within a Diocese, opportunities of this kind may arise and should be employed.”

The report argues that laywomen possess distinct charisms from the Holy Spirit that demand recognition.

“Today laywomen have the right to affirm their participation in the mission of the Church not only on the basis of their equal human and Christian dignity but also on the basis of the charisms given by God,” it says.

“A new evangelization has become urgent,” it adds, “One that depends less exclusively on priestly resources and is enriched by the presence and contributions of women.”

— ‘New forms of exercising authority’

The synod study group calls for theology and canon law to “explore new forms of exercising authority grounded in the Sacrament of Baptism and distinct from those deriving from Holy Orders, so that adequate canonical forms may be found to make effective the participation of women in roles of leadership within the Church.”

“There is no reason or impediment that should prevent women from carrying out leadership roles in the Church,” the report states.

The document also recommends a “reformulation of the areas of competence of the ordained ministry,” suggesting that redefining those boundaries “could open the way to recognize new spaces of responsibility for women in the Church.”

— Female diaconate not addressed

Notably, the report does not address the specific question of a possible female diaconate, a controversial topic of debate within the Synod on Synodality. During the second session of the synod, Pope Francis reactivated a commission studying women’s access to the diaconate under Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi. That commission’s conclusions, published in December 2025, stopped short of recommending the female diaconate but approved by a wide margin a proposal to broaden women’s access to instituted ministries, like that of catechist.

— The Virgin Mary as a model

Drawing on Scripture and Church tradition, the report invokes both the Virgin Mary and St. Mary Magdalene as paradigms for female authority in the Church.

“Mary is the supreme model of the charismatic dimension. Though she does not belong to the hierarchical structure, she possesses within the Church a unique authority and spiritual fruitfulness,” it states.

The document also notes that Christ chose a woman, Mary Magdalene, to first announce the Resurrection, “The Apostles themselves received this proclamation from her.”

— Pope Leo’s appointments of women to Roman Curia

The report outlines appointments made by both Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV as evidence that women can and already do lead at the highest levels of the Church.

It cites the Apostolic Constitution “Praedicate Evangelium,” which allows the possibility for a laywomen to head a Vatican dicastery, “depending on the power of governance and the specific competence and function of the Dicastery or Office in question.”

At the same time, the report states that women working in the Roman Curia have indicated “that certain attitudes marked by clericalism persist” in which “women, even in positions of responsibility, sometimes struggle to be involved and listened to on equal footing with male colleagues, particularly in interactions with ordained ministers.”

The study group highlighted Pope Leo XIV’s appointments of Trappistine Mother Martha Elizabeth Driscoll, and Sister Iuliana Sarosi, a member of the Congregation of the Mother of God, as consultors to the Dicastery for the Clergy and of Cristiana Perrella as president of the Pontifical Insigne Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon.

The report also cited Pope Leo’s comments in an interview in July 30 in which he said that “the role of women in the Church has to continue to develop” and expressed his intention to continue “in the footsteps of Francis, including in appointing women to some leadership roles at different levels in the Church’s life.”

— Women in the Bible and Church history

The synod final report is organized in three parts. The first recounts the history of the study group and the second offers a “synthesis of the themes” emerging from the synodal process.

The third part is an extensive appendix containing six sections: female figures in the Old and New Testaments; significant women in Church history; contemporary testimonies of women in Church leadership; the Marian and Petrine principles; ecclesial authority; and the contributions of Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV.

Among the examples of women highlighted by the document are St. Catherine of Siena, St. Joan of Arc, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Maria Montessori, and Servant of God Dorothy Day.

(OSV News) – Two Maronite bishops in the U.S. are calling for prayer, dialogue and solidarity after a Maronite priest was killed in Lebanon amid the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.

Father Pierre al-Rahi succumbed to injuries sustained March 9 when an Israeli artillery tank fired on a house in the southern Lebanon village of Qlayaa.

Lebanon and several other Middle East nations have come under attack since U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran, launched Feb. 28 and met with counterattacks by that nation, have plunged the region — as well as global relations and markets — into uncertainty.

Father al-Rahi, also known by his French name Pierre el-Raï, had along with other priests refused Israeli orders to evacuate the Maronite village, located a few miles from the border with Israel and home to some 8,000.

When the strike took place, Father al-Rahi “didn’t wait” but “went to jump in right away” after hearing “one of the homes in his town was bombarded,” Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, who heads the St. Louis-based Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, told OSV News.

But, said Bishop Zaidan, the priest was injured in a second strike that took place “right away” after the first, and then “died in the hospital.”

In a message shared with OSV News, Maronite Bishop Gregory J. Mansour of the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn, New York, reflected on Father al-Rahi’s death by quoting John 15:13: “No greater love has any man than to give his life for his friends.”

“May God’s good servant, Father Pierre Al Rahi, rest in peace,” said Bishop Mansour. “May his patriarch, bishop, brother priests, parishioners and family be consoled by the Holy Spirit.”

Bishop Zaidan called the priest’s death a “sad story and unfortunate situation.”

With roots in Syria and Lebanon, the global Maronite Catholic Church — one of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches that, along with the Roman Catholic Church, comprise the universal Catholic Church — mourns to see Lebanon ravaged again by war, said Bishop Zaidan.

“It’s definitely a sadness and a sorrow, because Lebanon is a spiritual home for Maronites, like the Vatican is for all Catholics,” he said. “And we feel that attachment.”

Yet in the midst of death, the hope of new life through Christ is present, said Bishop Zaidan.

“The blood of martyrs helps to build the Church in that way, and gives us the determination to keep going despite everything, and to witness to the love of Christ in that perspective,” he said.

Bishop Zaidan offered a message for the faithful following the priest’s death.

“I would say, as Pope Leo XIV has, enough violence; let’s dialogue, let’s talk,” he said.

In addition, “keep praying and praying and praying,” Bishop Zaidan urged.

And, he said, “stand in solidarity” with those suffering in the war by thinking about and reflecting on what they are experiencing.

“I think we go a long way from that perspective, because ‘whatever you have done to the least of my brothers and sisters, you’ve done it to me,'” said Bishop Zaidan, quoting Matthew 25:40. “This gesture of support that says, ‘We’re praying for you, we’re thinking about you, we’re feeling for you’ — I think this beautiful support can help our brothers and sisters.”

(OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV called for an end to the war in Iran and warned that the conflict could drag more countries in the Middle East into instability.

Speaking to pilgrims after praying the Angelus prayer March 8, the pope said that developing news from Iran and from across the Middle East has caused “deep dismay.”

“Amid episodes of violence and devastation, and the widespread climate of hatred and fear, there is also the concern that the conflict may widen and that other countries in the region, including Lebanon, may once again sink into instability,” he said.

According to The Associated Press, Israeli forces struck an oil storage facility in Tehran, as well as targeted assaults in southern Lebanon against commanders of the Lebanese branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Iran has continued striking U.S. allies in the Gulf, including Bahrain, where it fired missiles at a desalination plant. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi defended the attack, arguing that the “U.S. set this precedent” after it struck a desalination plant in Iran, AP reported.

The pope’s concern for Lebanon came as government officials confirmed that the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants resulted in the deaths of 394 people, including 83 children.

Since the start of the war Feb. 28, at least 1,230 people in Iran, about a dozen in Israel and six U.S. service members have been killed, AP said.

In his appeal, Pope Leo called on Catholics to pray so that “the roar of bombs may cease, that the weapons may fall silent, and that a space for dialogue may open in which the voice of the peoples can be heard.”

“I entrust this supplication to Mary, Queen of Peace,” the pope said. “May she intercede for those who suffer because of war and guide hearts along the paths of reconciliation and hope.”

Less than a day after the start of the war, the pope called for diplomacy to “regain its proper role” and that “the well-being of peoples, who yearn for peaceful existence founded on justice, be upheld.”

At his Angelus address March 1, several hours after the U.S. and Israel revealed that Iran’s supreme leader, 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed, the pope expressed his concern, highlighting that “stability and peace are not achieved through mutual threats, nor through the use of weapons, which sow destruction, suffering, and death, but only through reasonable, sincere, and responsible dialogue.”

“Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of immense proportions, I make a heartfelt appeal to all the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility of halting the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” the pope warned.

ROME (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV has named Archbishop Gabriele Caccia as the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States, selecting a seasoned diplomat to serve as a crucial liaison between Rome and the pope’s home country.

The Vatican announced the appointment of the new apostolic nuncio March 7, naming Archbishop Caccia, 68, to succeed Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who turned 80 in January and had served in the post since 2016.

A nuncio is a Vatican diplomatic representative with the rank of ambassador. He acts as both the Holy See’s ambassador to the government and its representative to the Catholic Church in the host country, maintaining ties between local bishops and Rome.

Archbishop Caccia, a native of Milan, already has significant experience in the United States, having served as the permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York since 2020.

As papal nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Caccia will play a key role in the selection process for U.S. bishop appointments and will serve as a point of contact between the bishops and clergy in the United States and the pope, in addition to carrying out the diplomatic tasks of a foreign ambassador serving in the United States.

Like his predecessor, Archbishop Caccia will serve as the pope’s key contact with President Donald Trump’s administration at a time when the administration’s immigration policies have been increasingly met by resistance by the U.S. bishops.

Archbishop Caccia in a March 7 statement said he was “honored and deeply humbled by the decision of the Holy Father to appoint me as Apostolic Nuncio to the Country and the Church where he himself was born and raised.”

“I receive this mission with both joy and a sense of trepidation, conscious of the great trust placed in me and of my own limitations, yet confident in His Holiness’s prayerful support and guidance,” the archbishop said.

During his years of service at the United Nations in New York, Archbishop Caccia said, he has experienced “warmth and openness” from the local Church, the government and the people of the United States. “I trust that their generosity and collaboration will assist me in carrying out this new mission at the service of communion and peace.”

Archbishop Caccia invoked “the blessings of Almighty God” on all, “especially in this year that marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States of America.”

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, welcomed the appointment on behalf of his brother bishops.

“I wish to extend our warmest welcome and our prayerful support to him as he carries out his responsibilities across the United States, and we look forward to working with him,” the archbishop said in a statement.

Archbishop Coakley also expressed his “sincere and prayerful appreciation” to Cardinal Pierre, noting his “many opportunities to work with Cardinal Pierre over the years, particularly over the last four months through the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,” since the Oklahoma prelate’s election in November as USCCB president.

“Thank you, Your Eminence, for your tireless service to the Church in the United States, and on behalf of my brother bishops, I offer our heartfelt prayers and best wishes in your retirement,” Archbishop Coakley said.

Archbishop Caccia is a career Vatican diplomat trained at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. He holds a doctorate in sacred theology and a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University.

His previous diplomatic posts include serving as apostolic nuncio to the Philippines and Lebanon, and earlier as an attaché in Tanzania. He also worked as assessor for general affairs in the Secretariat of State under St. John Paul II in Rome.

Cardinal Pierre, who spent nearly five decades in Vatican diplomatic service, earned widespread respect among U.S. bishops for identifying episcopal candidates who embodied Pope Francis’ priorities while avoiding polarization. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals in 2023 and is expected to divide his retirement between his native France and Rome.

The United States and the Holy See have maintained formal diplomatic relations since 1984, when President Ronald Reagan and St. John Paul II established full ties. However, the relationship dates back to the U.S. founding, when Benjamin Franklin conveyed a message from George Washington to Pope Pius VI in 1788, affirming that the new republic’s commitment to religious liberty meant no government role in appointing bishops.

The U.S. maintained consular relations with the Papal States from 1797 and diplomatic relations from 1848 to 1867, though not at the ambassadorial level. Congress banned funding for Vatican relations in 1867, a move partly driven by anti-Catholic sentiment. For more than a century afterward, contact relied on personal envoys, including during World War II, until Reagan and John Paul II restored formal ties.

The current Rome-based U.S. ambassador to the Holy See is Ambassador Brian Burch, who presented his credentials to Pope Leo XIV in September.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The U.S. bishops’ annual Catholic Relief Services Collection, which helps some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in need in the United States and worldwide, will be taken in most U.S. dioceses at Masses the weekend of March 14-15.

The collection benefits six agencies and offices affiliated with the Catholic Church, including CRS, the flagship international relief and development agency for the Catholic Church in the U.S.

“The Church in the United States was built on ministry among immigrants. We help all who are marginalized, including victims of war and disaster overseas. The Catholic Relief Services Collection combines all these kinds of assistance,” said Bishop Daniel H. Mueggenborg of Reno, Nevada, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on National Collections.

“Our Lord tells us to love our neighbors — those we know, those we don’t and those we think are very different from us. The Catholic Relief Services Collection is one way that we show that love. Today it is more vital than ever,” the bishop said in his March 2 statement.

The collection is also accepting online gifts at igivecatholic.org/story/USCCB-CRS.

Of nearly $13.5 million distributed from the collection in 2024, nearly $8 million went to CRS working in places affected by war and natural disaster, according to a USCCB news release.

The CRS Collection has become more critical in light of last year’s deep cuts to humanitarian aid by the U.S. federal government that have left a chasm for the Catholic Church and other international aid agencies to fill.

In July 2025, the U.S. Agency for International Development effectively ceased to exist, with 85% of its programs cut, as a result of the cost-cutting efforts of tech titan Elon Musk, then head of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. Musk bragged about “feeding USAID into the woodchipper,” but academic demographers have estimated the sudden loss of funding to groups carrying out humanitarian aid led to as many as 300,000 people dying within six months.

The Lancet, a peer-reviewed British medical journal published since 1823, estimated USAID assistance has saved more than 91 million lives, including that of 30 million children, over the past two decades. But it forecast that if USAID-funding levels were not restored, “a staggering number of avoidable deaths could occur by 2030”: 14.1 million people, with over 4.5 million being children younger than 5.

The other recipients of the CRS Collection are:

— The Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., or CLINIC: provides training and support to a network of more than 400 Catholic and community-based immigration law providers in 49 states.

— The USCCB Secretariat of Migration, formerly the Department of Migration and Refugee Services: assists dioceses in carrying out their ministries to newcomers, publishes educational resources, and promotes policies “that affirm the life and dignity of immigrants and refugees.”

— Two initiatives of the USCCB Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church: pastoral ministries to migrant workers, travelers and seafarers through its Subcommittee on the Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees, and Travelers, and its Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Island Affairs, which helps the Church address the unique pastoral needs across many boundaries of language and tradition.

— The USCCB Secretariat of Justice and Peace: engages in advocacy on behalf of the poor around the world and works with policymakers and government officials to end violent international conflicts through its international justice and peace program. Created in early August 2024, the secretariat serves a number of USCCB committees, including the Committee on International Justice and Peace.

— Holy Father’s Relief Fund: helps Pope Leo XIV rush aid to areas of the world in crisis.

Bishop Mueggenborg said, “Together, these agencies help victims of war and natural disaster, support sustainable economic development overseas, advocate for international peace and human rights, help refugees and immigrants in the United States to obtain legal support, offer pastoral support to a wide variety of people who migrate for work and build cross-cultural understanding.”

 

(OSV News) – Catholic Sisters Week, an annual campaign to bring greater visibility to U.S. sisters, will again be focused on the theme of #LikeaCatholicSister, but instead of the action-oriented messages of last year, it will center on the stories of sisters’ work.

Catholic Sisters Week, now in its 13th iteration, is overseen by Communicators for Women Religious, an organization of sisters and laypeople who work in communications for sister congregations. It runs March 8-14 every year, starting on International Women’s Day.

The messages for this year’s observance fall under the theme of “Hope & Heart,” and include topics such as “Community & Connection” and “Prayer & Spirit.”

“Last year we focused on bold, action things like ‘Fighting for the Forgotten,'” said Mikaela VanMoorleghem, president of the CWR steering committee and director of communications for the Notre Dame Sisters in Omaha, Nebraska. “Instead, this year we’re inviting congregations to share the moments that reveal who Catholic sisters are.”

While those moments and stories will be collected on the Catholic Sisters Week website’s Padlet — a sort of shared digital bulletin board — one could also find stories by searching the #LikeaCatholicSister hashtag on social media. The Padlet itself can also be embedded on congregational websites, she said.

Before last year, Catholic Sisters Week focused on events being held by sisters to draw attention to their work and legacy; now it is centered on telling the stories of their work and legacy.

One event that is being held to commemorate the week, however, is a documentary screening held by the Louisville Ursulines:”In the Company of Change,” which is both a tribute to Sister Martha Buser and and exploration of the societal and ecclesial shifts that reshaped Catholic religious life in America over the past 75 years. The documentary is a follow-up to filmmaker Morgan Atkinson’s 1987 documentary on Sister Martha and the changes the sisters experienced after Vatican II, “A Change in Order.”

VanMoorleghem said the stories of Catholic sisters are so powerful and important, they need to be shared not just because they need to be preserved and remembered, but because the world needs them right now.

One example is a story by Notre Dame Sister Celeste Wobeter, who wrote about looking back on difficult times in her life and remembering “an emptiness, a fear of terrible consequences. Wondering what to do.”

But also trusting and hoping.

“Eventually a sense of peace and healing would seep into my life,” Sister Celeste wrote. “A sense of freedom and amazement that the situation was indeed a gift, unwanted, but a gift that strengthened my hope and trust in God and others. As I look back I see each struggle in life taught me something new. I began to be grateful for the struggle. (But I added, ‘Please, no more!’)”

VanMoorleghem said sisters and their work are a gift to the world — one part of the introductory video notes that sisters’ service “is love made visible” — that is more needed than ever.

“The goal is that we lift these voices up so they can inspire us to love more boldly, listen more closely, and carry hope forward,” she said. “We want to tell their stories and uplift their ministries and congregations, and invite the public to learn about these incredible women.”

(OSV News) – Nine young adults have been selected as “perpetual pilgrims” to travel with the Eucharist along the East Coast this summer in the third National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. The pilgrims — five men and four women — will participate in the pilgrimage’s full route, which begins May 24 in Florida and reaches Maine before ending in Philadelphia July 5 for U.S. semiquincentennial celebrations.

The pilgrims include Zachary Dotson, a parish employee in Indiana; Marcel Ferrer, a sophomore at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio; John Paul Flynn, sophomore at The Catholic University of America in Washington; Eduardo Gutierrez, an accountant in Phoenix; Cheyenne Johnson, a missionary in New Jersey; Angelina Marconi, a college athletic trainer in Kentucky; Raymond Martinez II, a seminarian for the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas; Sharon Phillips, a high school youth minister in the Archdiocese of Seattle; and Mary Carmen Zakrajsek, a youth faith formation director in Indiana.

With four routes that met in Indianapolis, the 2024 pilgrimage included 30 pilgrims. Last year’s pilgrimage included eight. Johnson was among the 2025 perpetual pilgrims, and she is returning this year as the team lead. Last year’s pilgrimage also included a returning pilgrim who had traveled one of the 2024 routes to serve as team lead.

With the theme “One Nation Under God,” the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage route celebrates key Catholic landmarks and events in American Catholic history as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The pilgrimage’s route includes public events in 18 dioceses and archdioceses in 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Registration for public events such as Masses, Eucharistic processions, adoration and Holy Hours opens March 18 at eucharisticpilgrimage.org.

The pilgrimage will launch Memorial Day weekend with Mass at Our Lady of La Leche Shrine at Mission Nombre De Dios in St. Augustine, Florida, the site of the first Mass celebrated on American soil in 1565. It will also include commemorations of the Georgia Martyrs, five Franciscan missionaries who were killed for their faith in 1597, whose beatification is expected Oct. 31; the celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi in the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia; and stops in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the nation’s first Catholic diocese.

The route is dedicated to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, an Italian-American religious sister who cared for the immigrants and poor in New York during the turn of the 20th century.

The National Eucharistic Congress nonprofit 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, and which returned last summer with a route from Indianapolis to Los Angeles.

This year’s pilgrimage will take place in solidarity with the U.S. bishops’ call to consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It also aims to broadly involve the Church in the U.S. through a campaign to offer 250,000 Holy Hours “for the renewal and blessing of America,” according to its website.

Dioceses and archdioceses with stops along the route are St. Augustine; Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Arlington, Virginia; Washington; Baltimore; Wilmington, Delaware; Camden, New Jersey; Paterson, New Jersey; Springfield, Massachusetts; Manchester, New Hampshire; Portland, Maine; Boston; Fall River, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; and Philadelphia.