Authentic Pilgrimage  Experiences

Our Beginning

Our founder, Steve Kerekes, began with a tremendous desire to evangelize his students through pilgrimages to Europe and World Youth Day. What started in his own classroom has now grown into an organization that has helped thousands of young Catholics to grow and shape their faith on pilgrimages around the world.

Our Mission

JMJyouth shares a common mission with youth ministers around the world: to evangelize, catechize, and change lives. We create opportunities for young people to open their hearts to the Grace of God on pilgrimages.

Our Philosophy

Our philosophy is simple: teach teens and young adults how to grow closer to God by removing the clutter of life and making room for Grace. Our pilgrims are accompanied by  guides who are energetic, faithful, living witnesses of the Catholic faith. We travel close to the ground, encountering the history and culture of each destination we visit.

Our Experience

We have over 25 years of pilgrimage experience that includes 10 World Youth Days and innumerable group pilgrimages to holy sites all over the globe. More than 10,000 pilgrims from 11 countries have trusted JMJyouth with their pilgrimage experiences.

Our Guides

Groups that choose to travel with JMJyouth are those who want to experience an authentic, Catholic youth pilgrimage supported by Pilgrimage Guides who are knowledgeable, faithful, and fun. We specially select Pilgrimage Guides that seek to inspire greatness while being exceptional role-models of faith and life.

7 Reasons to Choose JMJyouth

1. Experience JMJyouth is the only youth-focused Catholic pilgrimage provider in the United States, and has more on-the-ground WYD experience than almost any pilgrimage company in the world.  We are veterans of Denver 1993, Manila 1995, Paris 1997, Rome 2000, Toronto 2002, Cologne 2005, Sydney 2008, Madrid 2011, Rio 2013, Krakow 2016 and Panama 2019.
2. Faithfulness  We are deeply committed to imparting the Catholic Faith into the hearts and minds of the pilgrims God has given us.  Our staff and Pilgrimage Guides all love the Faith, and are committed to inspiring Catholic youth. In fidelity to the Church and her teachings, we do not offer pilgrimages for other faith traditions.
3. Cooperation We work closely with local churches, shrines, and tour operators to ensure seamless communication and logistical sanity. For WYD pilgrimages, we maintain close contact directly with the host diocese and the local organizing committee for the benefit of our pilgrims.
4. Flexibility  We strive to offer our groups as many options as possible for customizing their pilgrimage experience. Select your preferred level of lodging; design a payment plan that suits your needs; and choose from numerous options for pilgrimage extensions and customizations. Have something special in mind? Customize your entire experience! We are at your service.
5. Value We work hard to price our pilgrimages to make them affordable for all. We drive costs as low as possible by keeping travel dates and cities flexible; by securing lodging and transportation contracts early; and by combining groups to share lodging, transportation, and Pilgrimage Guides (when possible).
6. Dependability Our package prices are final once you sign your contract and make your deposit payment. We never charge undisclosed, "surprise" fees. The only events that could change your cost after booking are: additional days/nights required due to travel dates; airline-imposed fuel surcharges at ticketing; and/or WYD registration fees above the allowed amount. 
7. WYD Insider Access Our staff spends time with the WYD committee and the staff of the host diocese throughout the years leading up to each WYD event. At our meetings, we make recommendations gleaned from our decades of experience, and gather exclusive information about the event schedule, sites, and other logistics. This information is then shared with all of our group leaders, to keep you informed and prepared for your WYD pilgrimage.