At the end of August, as a key contribution to the Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church, a national walking pilgrimage will take place that will trace an enormous sign of the Cross that spans England and Wales.
The ‘Pilgrimage of Hope’ offers four main routes, or ‘Ways’ – north, south, east and west – that converge in Nottingham at the city’s Cathedral of St Barnabas on Saturday, 13 September 2025. The following day, the Cathedral will host a Solemn Mass for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at 11:15am.
I’d really like to undo some of the work done by Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII to see walking pilgrimage re-established as an important part of the Christian heritage and practice in this country.
Phil McCarthy, Pilgrimage organiser
The main routes are named after the Evangelists, Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The first and longest route, St Matthew’s Way, is the western route that starts in Cardiff on 28 August from St David’s Metropolitan Cathedral and progresses to St Barnabas’ Cathedral in Nottingham via St Chad’s Cathedral in Birmingham and the Shrine of St Chad in Lichfield. Overview, details and interactive map here.
Next to start, on 1 September, is the southern route – St John’s Way. The group will walk from Southwark’s St George’s Cathedral, pass by Westminster Cathedral, and head to Nottingham via the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate and St Thomas of Canterbury in Northampton. Overview, details and interactive map here.
On 4 September the eastern route – St Luke’s Way – starts at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Norwich transiting the National Shrine of Our Lady at Houghton St Giles and the Pontifical Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham at King’s Lynn en route to Nottingham. Overview, details and interactive map here.
Finally, the shortest route departs from Leeds in the north of England. Leaving St Anne’s Cathedral on 6 September, the group will walk to Nottingham via St Marie’s Cathedral in Sheffield and the Chapel of the Padley Martyrs. Overview, details and interactive map here.
The routes use established hiking routes and are off-road as much as possible. A small group of ‘perpetual pilgrims’ will walk the full distance of each Way, but Day Pilgrims will be able to register to join for stages. Numbers are limited for safety reasons but up to 20 people can join per day. Stretches which are suitable for wheelchairs and buggies will be identified and there will be opportunities for non-walkers to provide support, hospitality and prayer along the way.
Day Pilgrims must register by the deadline of Thursday, 21 August 2025.
Phil McCarthy, project lead for the ‘Hearts in Search of God’ initiative, is the organiser of the National Jubilee Pilgrimage. You can listen to a 14-minute podcast in which Phil discusses the four main routes of the national pilgrimage and his desire to place the ancient, pre-Reformation tradition of walking pilgrimages at the heart of our Catholic consciousness.
“If you look at walking pilgrimage in England and Wales, it’s really underdone compared with many of our continental neighbours,” says Phil. “If you look at the Camino [to Santiago de Compostela] or the Via Francigena to Rome… we just don’t have that tradition. It was stopped at the time of Reformation and we’ve never really recovered it.
“What I’d really like to do is undo some of the work done by Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII to see walking pilgrimage re-established as an important part of the Christian heritage in this country, and an important Christian practice.”
The ‘Pilgrimage of Hope’ will embody the values of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Phil McCarthy explains what these values are and how they will be celebrated on the four Ways.
“The Sisters of the Holy Cross have been absolutely fantastic in supporting this project for the last three years – particularly this year. Their values of compassion, faith, prayer, and community seemed absolutely ideal for a pilgrimage. You want to show compassion to each other and to people that you might meet along the way. You want it to be a witness to your faith. You want it to be an opportunity for prayer, and you want to build up community – not just on the way, but hopefully something going forward.”
For keen long-distance walkers, there are also feeder routes to the four main Ways from all the other Catholic cathedrals of England and Wales. This enables pilgrims from every diocese to participate. It must be noted that the ‘Hearts in Search of God’ project, that manages the Pilgrim Ways site, will not be organising pilgrimages along these feeder routes. Individuals or groups are welcome to use them independently at their own risk and to adapt them as they feel best. Information and routes can be found by visiting the Pilgrim Ways website (look for the section ‘Feeder Routes’ towards the foot of the page).
Find out more about the Pilgrimage of Hope by visiting the Pilgrim Ways website.
