Catholics from the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, gathered at a Greensboro parish June 1-2 to take part in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which began on Pentecost in St. Augustine, Florida.
Hundreds arrived June 1 to participate in a Eucharistic procession at St. Pius X Catholic Church, adore Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and attend Mass celebrated by the parish’s pastor, Father Christian Cook. The faithful softly sang Eucharistic hymns as they processed around the church and into the narthex, their voices gradually swelling into a unified song of adoration.
Hundreds of faithful from the Diocese of Charlotte gathered today at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, for the latest stop on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage route. Deacon Jack Yarborough of St. Pius carried Our Eucharistic Lord in the monstrance… pic.twitter.com/WLMO4jljQF
— Zeale News (@ZealeNews) June 1, 2026
During Eucharistic adoration, two young girls politely asked to join the religious sisters in the pew in front of them. The sisters smiled and welcomed the girls. They adored Our Lord together, and the girls hugged the sisters before departing.
The reverent atmosphere and visible signs of faith left an impression on many of those who attended, including Albert and Annette Bassi of Kernersville, North Carolina, who participated in the June 1 events with their daughter.
“We wanted to participate in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage to honor our Catholic faith and the 250th anniversary of the United States,” Annette Bassi told Zeale News. “We also wanted to support a Catholic community event with friends and family.”
While many participants joined the pilgrimage for a day or the weekend, a group of nine young adults has committed to accompanying the Blessed Sacrament throughout the entire route as perpetual pilgrims. The route is named after St. Frances Cabrini, the Italian missionary who opened hospitals and schools in the U.S. and founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The acclaimed feature film about the saint, “Cabrini, was shown after Mass.
As the pilgrimage prepared to continue north, perpetual pilgrim Angelina Marconi spoke with Zeale News about the graces she has experienced along the route.
Noting that she has never spent this much consecutive time with Our Lord in the Eucharist, she said the journey has been “an incredible blessing, especially having Jesus in the van that we travel in.”
“I've definitely noticed a difference in the peace that I've had in my life and trying to really seek the Lord out in prayer and having been given the opportunity, it's really allowed me to do that – to really refocus on prayer because I don’t have the busyness of work around me,” Marconi said.
That renewed focus on prayer has shaped the way Marconi approaches each day of the pilgrimage, particularly during Mass and Eucharistic adoration. She said she has noticed she has grown in her ability to pray through Mass for intentions she and others have.
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“It feels like I've been able to connect with the Mass more and to sit with the Lord because I tend to get a little restless and have a hard time being present,” she said, “and so, even though I still have work to do, I've been able to start with that and be open to really resting in the Lord’s presence.”
Marconi said the pilgrimage has also reinforced a lesson she shares with others interested in developing a habit of Eucharistic adoration: You don’t have to have the perfect prayer.
She simply reflects on the daily readings, she said, keeping in mind that what’s most important is being with the Lord and inviting God’s presence, which she does by saying, “Come, Holy Spirit, open my heart.”
“I've gone to adoration a lot in my joys and in my trials and my sufferings, so even on the days that I'm really not ‘feeling it,’ per se, I know I can still go to adoration and still be with the Lord,” she said. ”At the end of the day, he's pleased if you just go there.”
Beyond the personal spiritual benefits, Marconi said the pilgrimage has given her a deeper appreciation for the Catholic communities hosting the route.
As a native of a small Arkansas town herself, Marconi deeply appreciates the smaller towns and churches on the pilgrimage. At parishes on the South Carolina portion of the route, she noted, she recalled longing to hear stringed instruments during adoration. The next Mass she attended on the route featured music from the Charlotte Symphony.
“Being able to meet these people and share in the Eucharist with them was really incredible,” she said. “It was a beautiful Mass.”
Another memorable experience of witnessing others’ devotion to the Eucharist occurred in St. Augustine.
“We were processing through downtown and people were shouting from restaurants, saying, ‘Yes, yes, yes!’” Marconi recalled. “It was incredible.”
As Marconi invited more Catholics to participate in upcoming events, the pilgrimage itself was getting ready to head to Virginia.
“If you’re near or far and want to travel, I encourage people to come and experience this and just be open to what the Lord has to bring,” she said.
She said the perpetual pilgrims have met people from Washington state, Michigan, and Texas who have come to the East Coast to join the procession for a weekend.
The Greensboro stop was the final leg of the pilgrimage’s tour in the Charlotte diocese before it journeyed to the Richmond and Arlington dioceses. The pilgrimage is scheduled to be in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., for Corpus Christi weekend.
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