Young woman embraces sharing her faith in pilgrimage tied to America’s 250th year

By John Shaughnessy

When she saw the e-mail, Mary Carmen Zakrajsek couldn’t stop smiling.

The 26-year-old woman with deep Indianapolis roots had prayed long and hard for this opportunity.

The e-mail informed her that she had been chosen as one of the nine young adults from across the United States as a perpetual pilgrim for the third National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, a 2,000-mile journey along the East Coast that ties in with the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations.

“When I saw I had been offered a spot, I was immediately filled with joy,” says the 2021 graduate of Marian University and a former member of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish, both in Indianapolis. “For me, this pilgrimage is a tangible reminder that Jesus Christ still desires to walk the Earth with us. It’s an opportunity for me to walk alongside him and have him transform me anew.”

With the theme, “One Nation Under God,” the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage route will feature major Catholic landmarks and moments in American Catholic history. It begins on May 24 in Florida, reaches Maine and then ends in Philadelphia on the weekend of July 4th for the country’s anniversary celebrations.

While Zakrajsek is excited about the combination of the eucharistic pilgrimage and the country’s celebration, she is also thoughtful about this time in American history.

“It may be obvious, but the most fitting posture for a 250th birthday like this is thanksgiving,” says Zakrajsek, the director of youth faith formation at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Elkhart, Ind., in the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese.

“Gratitude is what carries a nation forward. Not a declaration of greatness, but a confession of dependence. Like every nation, we are dependent upon grace, upon God. This spiritual pilgrimage is a reminder of our dependence upon him. He desires to renew us, refresh us and bless us with his presence in the Eucharist.”

She shared these thoughts and others in an interview with The Criterion. Here is an edited version of that exchange.
 

Q. What are you most looking forward to about the pilgrimage?

A. “To seeing the Gospel narratives come to life and watching the crowds encounter Jesus’ healing presence, especially during the processions. I often wonder what that must have been like for the Apostles—to eat with him, to travel with him.

“It is a tangible reminder that the Gospel story is our story—Jesus desires to share our everyday moments of life just like he did with the Apostles, and convert them into something extraordinary, simply because we do them through him, with him and in him. He calls us to be his witnesses, and I look forward to sharing the transformative power he has wrought in my life through the Eucharist.”
 

 Q. Talk about what led you to want to become a perpetual pilgrim for this third National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.

A. “I remember joining the last 3-mile downtown stretch of the eucharistic procession leading up to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in 2024. I felt so internally free and joyful as I walked behind the Eucharist. I remember seeing the perpetual pilgrims at the time and thinking, ‘Wow! This would be awesome to do what they have been doing and be a witness.’ I felt like this pilgrimage would be an incredible opportunity to deepen my relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist.”
 

Q. How do you hope the pilgrimage will deepen your relationship with Christ?

A. “My hope is that this pilgrimage deepens my ability to trust and receive Christ’s love more fully. That is our first mission—to be loved by God. To receive his love and be reminded that the Lord has loved us first.

“Sometimes, more often than not, it’s my pride that blocks this. Feeling like I’m too much of a sinner, too fickle, too ashamed. I hope that walking behind Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament this summer will set me free to live more fully in his love and boldly claim it as my inheritance. The Eucharist is proof of God’s love for us. He desires to be close to us in the ordinary moments of our life.

“I hope this pilgrimage will strengthen the image of Jesus as a close friend, as someone who rejoices when I rejoice and weeps when I weep, and as someone who cares for me and wants to show me miracles when I put my faith in him.”
 

Q. How do you think this pilgrimage will help you in your ministry with youths?

A. “One of the chaplains from last year’s pilgrimage shared with our team that we are all called to be monstrances—bearing the image of Jesus exposed and sharing his radiance with others.

“I think about this in terms of my job, particularly with the youth. St. Pope Paul VI said, ‘Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than he does to teachers. And if he listens to teachers, it’s because they are witnesses.’

“I hope that this pilgrimage will embolden me as his witness and give me the grace to radiate his presence with my catechists and students.” 
 

Q. Another young woman with Indianapolis roots, Cheyenne Johnson, will be the team leader of this year’s pilgrims, after being a perpetual pilgrim in last year’s eucharistic pilgrimage. What will it be like for you to share the experience with her, another former member of Holy Rosary Parish who also served as the Catholic campus minister at Butler University in Indianapolis?

A. “I am excited to experience this pilgrimage with Cheyenne. We went to different universities in Indianapolis, but we met on the same March for Life trip to Washington years ago. We reconnected after college and even more so after she became a parishioner at Holy Rosary. We have a lot of fun together. I’m looking forward to growing, laughing and witnessing alongside her. I’m excited to represent Indiana and the archdiocese together.”
 

Q. How do you hope your pilgrimage connects to people in our archdiocese and across our country?

A. “Something that has been powerful in the months leading up to the pilgrimage is interceding on behalf of friends, family, personal donors and our country. The theme for this year’s pilgrimage is ‘One Nation Under God,’ and I feel both humbled and honored to pray in a serious way for those who entrust their intentions to me and the team on this route.

“I would love for anyone who is reading this to share your prayer intentions with me. I will have plenty of hours in the van, in chapels and on foot this summer to bring these petitions before our Eucharistic Lord. You may scan the QR code at the [left] and upload as many as you would like.”
 

(The story of perpetual pilgrim Cheyenne Johnson will be featured in a future issue.) †