Our First Day Spent with the First Baptized in Europe
The start of a new liturgical year also marks the start of the next portion of our journey with St. Paul.
The Journeying from Turkey
These are the many things that run through our heads and hearts today as we prepare ourselves for the next part of our Pilgrimage.
Imagine You’re on the Way to Nicaea…
After yesterday’s excitement with Pope Leo, we started today with morning prayer and a simple Mass in the basement of our hotel.
Pope Leo
This morning, we left Bursa at 5am to head to Istanbul to see the Pope!
Beach Landings & Bursa
Happy Thanksgiving! Having briefly paused our journey with St. Paul (We’ll catch up with him again in Greece), we turned to spend a day dedicated more to secular history.
Light of the World
After yesterday’s late evening return from Ephesus, we started today’s pilgrimage with an “upper room” Mass at our hotel – we turned the rooftop restaurant, which was closed until lunchtime, into our early morning chapel.
Behold Your Mother (Jn. 19:27)
We left our hotel in Izmir this morning for a day trip to the ancient cities of Miletus and Ephesus.
Into the Wilderness We Go
As I write this post, we are a week into our pilgrimage following in the footsteps of St. Paul.
Praise be Jesus Christ, Now and Forever
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. What words can capture the grandeur and majesty of our God, Jesus Christ, the King of the universe?
Classical Arts and Recreation
We spent the night in Antalya, where St. Paul departed from after his first journey in 48 AD. This morning, we had Mass at St. Nicholas Church.
Whirling and Traveling
This morning began with a gift: the chance to celebrate Mass in a local church – only the second time we’ve been able to do so during our pilgrimage.
Floating on By
We woke up in the early hours of the morning with great expectation. We weren’t sure if it was going to happen or not.
Earthworks and Spelunking
What a day! Our adventures started even before the first destination. The bus ride was filled with absolutely gorgeous views of the rugged terrain of Cappadocia.
Fountain of Health
We started the day early at 3:30 in the morning, local time. We had to be up at this hour because we had a flight from Istanbul to Adana that departed at 7:00. The security at the airport was quite surprising.
Istanbul or Constantinople?
After leaving Mundelein Seminary, we traveled 22 hours to reach Istanbul at around 6:30 last night, our first destination for the 2025 Mundelein Pilgrimage following the Footsteps of Saint Paul.