St. Bernard Church will welcome participants in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage on Saturday, June 20, as the nationwide faith journey makes a stop in Keene.
The pilgrimage began Memorial Day weekend in St. Augustine, Florida, near the site where the first Catholic Mass was celebrated in what is now the United States. The route travels up the Eastern Seaboard through many of the original 13 colonies before concluding over the Fourth of July weekend in Philadelphia in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The pilgrimage is scheduled to arrive in Keene from Thomas Aquinas College in Northfield, Mass. Activities at St. Bernard Church will begin at noon and continue until 4 p.m., culminating with Mass. The program will include a procession to Central Square.
Organizers expect approximately 400 people to attend the Keene stop, which is one of the featured locations along the pilgrimage route.
