It may feel counterintuitive, but Charlie McCullough says that pilgrimage “teaches us how to live a normal life.”
That has been his experience after traveling the southern route of the 2024 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage from the Texas-Mexico border to Indianapolis over the span of two months.
This year, he is doing it again—on a different route, with a different group—as the team lead of the 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage from Indianapolis to Los Angeles.
The 23-year-old is preparing to take time away from his job in Austin, Texas, to travel the 3,300-mile route with seven first-time pilgrims.
He expects to lean on his experience from last summer to support this year’s pilgrims, who will accompany the Eucharist along the way.
The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage launched last year with 30 pilgrims in four groups traveling with the Eucharist along routes from the North, South, East and West to Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress.
However, this year’s event has only one route with far fewer pilgrims. The 2025 route, named for St Katharine Drexel, has stops planned in 21 dioceses and four Eastern Catholic eparchies across Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.