Diocesan News

Diocese of Brooklyn Pilgrims Say Final Lenten Pilgrimage Offers Relief, Renewal

April 1, 2026
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Cheryl Charles uses the app created by DeSales Media Group to check in at the diocese’s final Lenten Pilgrimage stop. Charles, who is usually in England during Easter, said she was grateful for the chance to visit the last few pilgrimage churches during Holy Week. (Photos: Paula Katinas)

OZONE PARK — Cheryl Charles walked into Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Ozone Park on April 1 feeling a sense of accomplishment.

She reached the final church on the final day of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Lenten Pilgrimage and recalled the journey she had been on. “It has been an eye opener,” she said, adding that it has brought her closer to her faith.

The 2026 Lenten Pilgrimage was the first in which Charles participated, and she managed to get to 27 of the 37 churches on the route.

“Each church is more beautiful and more unique,” said Charles, a parishioner of Our Lady of Miracles Church in Canarsie.

RELATED: Ash Wednesday Marks First Step in Lenten Pilgrimage for Faithful in Diocese of Brooklyn

This year marked the diocese’s fourth annual Lenten Pilgrimage. Bishop Robert Brennan introduced the pilgrimage in 2023 to help Catholics in Brooklyn and Queens grow in their faith as they marked Lent and prepared for Easter.

Under the pilgrimage, the diocese designated a different church each day for Catholics to visit as that day’s pilgrimage station. Beginning with the Cathedral Basilica of St. James on Ash Wednesday, the faithful were invited to visit as many of the station churches as they could to attend Mass or take part in things like Eucharistic adoration, Stations of the Cross, and praying the rosary, among other opportunities for prayer and reflection.

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary-St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr Parish was the final stop, with the Masses and services held at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church.

The final day of the diocese’s Lenten Pilgrimage included the opportunity for the faithful to participate in Eucharistic Adoration. Father John Tino, the pastor of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary-St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr Parish, processes in the church with the Blessed Sacrament.

Father John Tino, the parish’s pastor, said he was happy to welcome pilgrims.

“They usually go to the same parish,” he said. “And so, (the pilgrimage) gives them an understanding of the universality of the church.”

RELATED: Lenten Pilgrims and Jornadistas Cross Paths at Astoria Parish

Lorraine Collazo, a parishioner of St. Teresa Church in Woodside, was at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church on April 1, just as she had been at all the other churches for this year’s pilgrimage. Collazo is a veteran, having participated in all of the pilgrimages from the very beginning in 2023.

“It’s been an interesting journey, both spiritually and physically,” she said, adding that crisscrossing the two boroughs made for long days that forced her to keep her energy up. “It’s the hardest part, I think, of the journey.”

Looking back on her pilgrimage experience, Collazo said she loved visiting the churches because they gave her the chance to be “in the presence of God.”

As she left the church following the morning Mass, Charles said she planned to take part in the pilgrimage next year.

“Yes, definitely,” she said. “And hopefully, I’ll do all the churches.”