Matthew Heidenreich, a Columbus Bishop Watterson High School and Delaware St. Mary School graduate, is one of several pilgrims traveling across the United States with Jesus in the Eucharist ahead of the National Eucharistic Congress in July.

The Perpetual Pilgrims are a group of young adults dedicated to full-time travel from May to July, accompanying the Eucharistic Lord on His journey to the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, which will be held July 17-21 in Indianapolis.

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage consists of four routes crossing the United States from the north, south, east and west. The routes will meet in Indianapolis on July 17 for the congress.

Heidenreich, who is currently in his second year as a student at the University of Alabama, is traveling along the northern route, known as the Marian Route. His journey began in the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota and will continue into Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.

“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done before, and it’s unlike anything this nation has ever seen before,” Heidenreich said. 

He said every day of the pilgrimage has been different. The day’s activities depend on the preferences of the diocese that the pilgrims cross through.

Typically, he said, upon arriving at a parish, pilgrims participate in the celebration of the Mass or a Holy Hour with the Eucharistic Lord, which is often followed by a Eucharistic procession. He said processions can be a mile or sometimes 12 miles in duration.

Matthew Heidenreich, serving as a Perpetual Pilgrim on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, began traveling in May in Minnesota and will pass through several dioceses in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana before reaching the National Eucharistic Congress in July.  EWTN photo

“No one has traveled this far with Jesus since the time of the Apostles, which is mind boggling,” he said. “This is a once in a lifetime event. It’s really a blessing to be able to participate in this and also to bring this to so many communities.”

Perpetual pilgrims visit multiple Catholic churches every day of the pilgrimage. In larger cities, Heidenreich said, pilgrims might visit as many as 10 or 11 churches in a day.

He said evenings often consist of Adoration and a fellowship dinner or potluck. The perpetual pilgrims stay with host families during their journey.

Eucharistic processions through various towns and cities have attracted many people who fall to their knees in worship, Heidenreich said. Several people have joined the pilgrims and processed with them.

“I’ve been awestruck by just how receptive people are,” he said. “I think a lot of us were expecting hostility, were expecting aggressive reactions, and that just hasn’t been the case.”

Heidenreich said he has witnessed the Lord reveal Himself throughout the pilgrimage. He has encountered Christ as King and is learning its meaning, he said.

For some places along the route, the encounter with Christ in the Eucharist is similar to His entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as many waved palm branches and shouted “hosanna” to the King.

“It’s been surprisingly beautiful to watch how other people receive Him, how other people are welcoming Him,” Heidenreich said. “All these people being brought back to faith is, in a way, just so edifying to us as pilgrims and to me especially, watching how towns are welcoming our King with church bells, with gongs sometimes, with songs, all sorts of things.”

Columbus Bishop Watterson High School graduate Matthew Heidenreich holds the canopy over the Blessed Sacrament during a procession in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on the Marian Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.    Photo courtesy National Eucharistic Congress

On Sunday, June 16, the Marian Route will pass through Champion, Wisconsin, located in the Diocese of Green Bay, and visit the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion. The day will include the celebration of Mass, a Eucharistic rosary procession and Eucharistic Adoration at the shrine.

Our Lady of Champion is the only approved Marian apparition in the United States. The Blessed Mother appeared there in 1859, identifying herself as “the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners.” 

The Marian Route, because it passes through the apparition site, is named in her honor. The Blessed Mother is the patroness of the route.

During an earlier Eucharistic procession in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Heidenreich said, the Eucharist was displayed in a monstrance used in the last national Eucharistic congress, which was held in St. Paul-Minneapolis in 1941.

“Seeing that monstrance, seeing how many people came out was like a foretaste of the Congress and got me really excited,” he said.

The National Eucharistic Congress in July will be the nation’s 10th Eucharistic congress. An estimated 80,000 people are expected to attend, the Catholic News Agency reported.

The first National Eucharistic Congress took place in 1865 at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. This year’s congress is an opportunity for Catholics to resume the work begun 129 years ago by numerous clergy, religious and lay people.

“I think that the experience will be very much so this revival, this re-revelation of the Eucharist, re-experiencing His presence there, and then, also, I think that the Holy Spirit is really going to bless that,” Heidenreich said.

From June 24 to June 30, the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage will pass through the Diocese of Columbus. Perpetual pilgrims on the eastern route, known as the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Route, will hold processions and make stops at various diocesan churches.

The eastern route is named for the first American-born saint to be canonized by the Church. She was born in New York and established the first Catholic girls’ school in Maryland – both are states that the eastern route passed through.

Because Heidenreich is on the Marian Route, traveling in the northern part of the country, he will not be part of local diocesan processions. However, he is praying for those back home.

“My heart still goes out for the community that I’m from – from Columbus – and so, I am interceding for Columbus, and I know that the Lord is going to do great things,” he said.

Heidenreich applied to be a perpetual pilgrim and was invited to serve on the Marian Route. He said he could submit preferences and was matched with a route. The pilgrims’ placement was mainly based on the specific needs of each route, he said.

Other routes include the St. Juan Diego Route, which covers the southern part of the United States, and the St. Junipero Serra Route, which is traversing the western part of the country.

While he has some responsibilities as a pilgrim, Heidenreich said the pilgrimage ultimately has brought him closer to Christ.

“It’s been this beautiful process of just following after our Lord step by step and learning together and learning from Him,” Heidenreich said of his experience with his team.

“At its heart, it has been just this experience of intimately following Jesus closer and closer every day, which has been life changing.”