Catholics Make Pilgrimage to Czestochowa

Hundreds of Catholics recently embarked on the 25th Walking Pilgrimage from a church in New Jersey to the destination north of Doylestown known as the "American Czestochowa."

The Walking Pilgrimage sets out from Great Meadows, N.J., and winds more than 55 miles to the .

Father Jeremiah Shryock of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal told the National Catholic Register that the pilgrims walk 10 to 20 miles each day, singing, praying, and worshipping together.

This year, the pilgrims departed from the Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Great Meadows on Thursday, Aug. 9. They arrived at the shrine on Ferry Road outside Doylestown on Sunday, Aug. 12.

The local pilgrimage echoes the pilgrimage Polish Catholics make from all points of Poland to the original shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa near Jasna Gora.