This spring, the Eucharist is on the march. As many as 100,000 people are expected to participate in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, taking place via four routes around the United States and converging in July at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.

One of the routes, the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Route (Seton Route), named for one of Manhattan’s favorite saints, will pass through the Archdiocese of New York May 22-26. The procession will make numerous stops between its starting point in Connecticut and its ending point, when it will go forward into the Diocese of Brooklyn.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) launched the National Eucharistic Revival in June, 2022, to rekindle and reinvigorate faith among Catholics following the Covid pandemic. The National Eucharistic Congress is the culmination of that revival, the 10^th such event in U.S. history, and the first in 83 years. The pilgrimage allows Catholics who may not be able to attend the Congress to take part in the Eucharist’s journey as it travels through numerous dioceses toward Indianapolis.

“Sometimes we are not sure what else we can do to live out our faith, outside of Mass and our everyday prayer life. This is a concrete way to be a witness in the world of our faith, of why we have hope, in whom we have hope. For that reason, I encourage all Catholics in our archdiocese to take part in the pilgrimage if they are able to,” said Elizabeth Guevara de Gonzalez, director of the Office of Adult Faith Formation Archdiocese of New York.

Beginning at Saint Mary’s Church in New Haven, Connecticut – the parish where Blessed Michael McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882 – with an all-night Eucharistic adoration, the Eucharist departs via the Seton Route on May 19, entering the Archdiocese of New York on the evening of May 22 at St. John Bosco parish in Port Chester. There, Auxiliary Bishop Edmund J. Whalen, Vicar for Clergy, will celebrate a bilingual Mass, which will be followed by Eucharistic adoration until 8 a.m. on May 23.

Departing Port Chester at 8 a.m. on May 23, the pilgrimage will make stops at St. Pius X in Scarsdale, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Scarsdale, and Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Our Lady in Tuckahoe, before arriving at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, where adoration with Auxiliary Bishop John Bonnici will take place from 7-10 p.m.

Following Mass on the morning of May 24, celebrated by Rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary and Diocese of Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop James Massa, the pilgrimage moves toward the Bronx, with stops at St. John the Baptist in Yonkers, St. Paul the Apostle in Yonkers, St. Patrick’s Home in the South Bronx, St. Philip Neri on the Grand Concourse, and Christ the King at 141 Marcy Place. The group will pass by Yankee Stadium  before an evening adoration and testimony by pilgrims from 7-8:30 p.m. at Cardinal Hayes High School. This event, led by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Espaillat, will be bilingual in Spanish and English.

Day Four in the archdiocese, May 25, begins at the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in Washington Heights, where the Eucharist will remain through Mass and lunch, before moving south and stopping at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park near 71st Street, and arriving for the evening at St. Vincent Ferrer on Lexington Avenue, where Auxiliary Bishop Gerardo Colacicco and the Dominicans will lead evening adoration.

On the final day of the Seton Route’s journey through the Archdiocese of New York, the Eucharist will be present at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Mass celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan at 10:15 a.m. Afterward, it will stop at St. Peter’s Church on Barclay Street and the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Shrine in Lower Manhattan, before heading back up to the Brooklyn Bridge for benediction and hand off to the Diocese of Brooklyn at 4 p.m.