The Lourdes Youth Pilgrimage has been a key part of our Diocese for 50 years. It’s a week where young people come together to serve others, supporting assisted pilgrims around Lourdes.
We travel in coach groups that become close-knit communities—our home away from home. Along the way, we form unexpected friendships and share unforgettable experiences.
Many young people return from Lourdes joyful and renewed in their faith — it’s the perfect place to rediscover what faith truly offers.
Meet and build friendships with young people from different schools and towns.
New, challenging and different experiences everyday.
Meeting new people, being in a new place, taking part in duties we may not be familiar with all help build our resilience.
Being away from home and caring for yourself offers us those life skills we all need.
Pilgrims are responsible for themselves and are given the responsibility of helping our assisted pilgrims.
Being away from home, taking on new tasks, being responsible for others - all help build confidence in who we are and what we can do.
Being able to say you have been part of the Pilgrimage and acted in service of others in your own time will help anyone stand out from the crowd on CV’s, Job Interviews and College or University applications.
For parents, carers and guardians.
Well we can guarantee each day will be full of new experiences and your child will not be bored! Youth pilgrims will have their breakfast together and then be ‘on duty’. This is what we call the roles they have in the week. This can be assisting others around the town or helping the wider pilgrimage in other ways. After lunch there may be other duties, or a coach group may have some free time to spend together to do their own thing. In the evening there is usually something for us to be doing to help and assist and then each coach has some social time. And each coach has a day off to get away and spend time together at the beach or one of the local towns.
Each coach group has a staff team (usually 7).This gives an excellent staff to youth ratio: far higher than any school trip. Coach Staff teams bring together a wide variety of skills and backgrounds, from those working in Education such as chaplains, teachers and school leadership, those with medical training and others holding roles in the private and voluntary sectors. All staff members are DBS cleared and are committed and experienced in areas such as Risk Assessments, Health and Safety and care for young people.
It costs £710 to join this year's Youth Piigrimage.
The price covers the full pilgrimage, that is 9 nights away from home and all travel.
A young person need only take a minimal amount of money for spending on drinks or snacks in the day.
Yes - but a young person would have to apply first.
Coaches will have their own fundraising. And individuals or friendship groups can organise their own fundraising, with support from schools and parishes. Any parish would be glad to have young people more involved in the life of the parish and help with fundraising through the year.
If a young person is pro-active and takes some initiative there is always support around and there is no reason why the cost could not be substantially reduced.