15th CYM Pilgrimage – March 28, 2026
Join us for the celebration of the 15th CYM Pilgrimage! We are so excited to continue this amazing tradition, beginning and ending at St. Elizabeth Church in Wilmington, with stops at St. Francis Hospital, St. Anthony’s, Padua Academy, and St. Paul’s. Help us to make this the biggest and best Pilgrimage to date, giving all glory to God!
Register Today!!
Pilgrimage Scholarship Request
2026 Theme: “Maps of Grace”
Bulletin Announcement
Please consider placing this announcement in your Sunday bulletin or in your school’s daily announcement, from now until the registration deadline for the Pilgrimage (or earlier if you need to set an earlier deadline for your parish or school).
“Answer Bishop Koenig’s Invitation to join him for the 15th CYM Pilgrimage!
Join Bishop Koenig for the fifteenth Pilgrimage on Saturday, March 28, 2026. We will carry the diocesan pilgrimage cross through the streets of Wilmington, symbolizing Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem and His journey to Calvary.
The day starts at St. Elizabeth Parish with an opening prayer and a concert at 10:00 am, and ends with a 4 pm Mass at the same location. Don’t miss this opportunity to wrap up your Lenten journey with hundreds of your peers. The cost is $15 per person or $45 max per family (bring your own lunch).
Register with your parish or Catholic school leaders to participate as a group. Families can register at www.cdowcym.org/pilgrimage.”
Hosting the Pilgrimage Cross
Parishes and schools are encouraged to have young people carry the cross into parish or school liturgies as a witness to our responsibility to share this symbol of Christ’s love. You may also wish to have the cross present during retreats as a part of prayer space, to use it as part of a prepared prayer service, or to be creative and think of your own ways to utilize the cross in your ministry. Remember that it is a diocesan cross, so in time, thousands of young people will have carried it, prayed before it, and been inspired by it.
Use the Hosting the Cross resource to plan your experience with the cross and to answer any questions you might have. Use the Resource Packet for suggested prayers and activities.
- View Request the Cross
- Download Hosting the Cross
- Download Hosting the Cross Resource Packet
- Using the Cross at Liturgy (PDF)
On Eucharistic Adoration
Have you ever been over at a good friend’s house for supper, someone that you really enjoy being with, and when you finish eating, you want to spend more time with that friend, so you talked in the living room, or went outside on the porch? Eating a meal with your friend was satisfying, but you still wanted to relax and just hang around for just a little while longer.
Well, since the Mass is the source and summit of our Christian life, it means a lot to us; it is a holy meal where we partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus. But like any friend, we need some extra time together to develop our friendship with Jesus even more. We can do this with Jesus in our adoration of Him before the tabernacle or by worshiping Jesus exposed in the monstrance for adoration.
So be a good friend to Jesus, and stick around a while longer.
On Reconciliation
The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a celebration of the merciful love of God. Through the gift of this sacrament, we are brought back together with the Father (reconciled) through the saving action of Jesus Christ, His Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This gift, given to the Church by Jesus himself on the evening of the Resurrection (see John 20:21-23), brings the sinner into the embrace of the Father, Who seeks us out and forgives. No one is beyond that embrace; no one is too far gone. Now, we who approach this sacrament with faith in God’s love and mercy and an honest awareness of our sins, with a sincere heart to try and live better, experience the depth of God’s love.
This guide can help you and your teens make the most of this powerful experience of God.
