At the beginning of February, six pilgrimage sites spread across the Diocese of Madison were opened to visitors for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.
Two weeks later, George Lenz, a parishioner of St. Maria Goretti Church in Madison, part of Divine Mercy Pastorate, had a full pilgrimage passport in hand.
When looking into receiving a certificate signed by Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison for visiting all six pilgrimage sites, Lenz asked the bishop if anyone had reached out before him.
Lenz recalled being a little surprised but very happy to hear the bishop say, “You’re the first,” but what made Lenz’s trek extraordinary was that he visited all six sites in one day.
Forming a plan
Lenz knew that finding time to visit each of the six pilgrimage sites was not going to be easy, given his duties, responsibilities, and on-call schedule.
Lenz is a father of five, the athletic director at St. Maria Goretti School in Madison, the office manager for his wife’s chiropractic business, and serves Divine Mercy Pastorate as a Knight of Columbus and highly involved volunteer.
Most of the things he does, Lenz shared, aren’t “tethered to a time clock, but I’m at the disposal to help where I can,” adding that he’s only one phone call away from the needs of his family, church, or school.
But on St. Valentine’s Day, an opportunity presented itself — Lenz found himself free for the day, aside from dropping off and picking up his children at school.
The night before, a plan “came together . . . from a simple connect the dots,” Lenz said, as he and his children sketched out the most efficient route.
When the route could be completed within the hours of a school day — it would take Lenz six-and-a-half hours to complete — that was the confirmation he needed.
That morning, after dropping his children off at school on the near-west side of Madison, Lenz began the pilgrimage.
The route
First, Lenz headed east, traveling to Immaculate Heart of Mary Church and Shrine of Our Lady of the Green Scapular, located at 5101 Schofield St., Monona.
Then, he traveled to the Schoenstatt Shrine, located nearby at 5901 Cottage Grove Rd., Madison.
Lenz said his prayer at each site was formulaic, including the “intentions of the Holy Father, [the Apostles’] Creed, ‘Our Father,’ ‘Hail Mary,’ minimum, at each place,” and added that his prayers would also wander at times, due to the beauty at each site and other intentions that came to mind.
“I tried my best not to make it a checklist,” Lenz said; “I think what was impactful . . . was that it was kept present, the idea of the journey.”
From there, Lenz kept heading east and traveled to Watertown, to St. Bernard Church, located at 114 S. Church St.
Lenz remembered that the thought of saving two sites for another trip had been creeping into his mind, but when “I had all green lights from Johnson Creek to Watertown to the parking lot, both directions, I thought this [was] quite a ‘tell,’” Lenz said.
After praying at St. Bernard Church, Lenz picked up and headed south, traveling to Nativity of Mary Church, located at 313 E. Wall St., Janesville.
After arriving in Janesville and praying at the church, Lenz shared that weariness began to set in.
His next stop was in Fennimore, and “looking at the distance from Janesville to Fennimore, I’m cutting it close,” Lenz remembered thinking.
“The idea of jumping ship, getting back to Verona, was very much creeping into my mind,” he continued, adding that he hadn’t eaten enough in the morning and was growing hungry.
“The Spirit must have been pushing on that one, [saying], ‘You’re going to want to do this, you’ve gotten this far, just keep going,’” Lenz remembered thinking.
“I haven’t gotten any calls, texts from school, or my wife’s office during this whole time, so I thought, ‘All right, I’m in the clear,” Lenz continued.
When Lenz arrived at St. Mary Church in Fennimore, located at 930 Jefferson St., it was worth the push, he said, remembering that the church had surprised him because it was so beautiful, and after prayer in Fennimore, Lenz had only one stop left: St. Cecilia Church in Wisconsin Dells, located at 603 Oak St.
Even though it was the longest drive of the day, traveling from Fennimore to Wisconsin Dells “was my favorite part of the [day’s] drive, because that was just gorgeous countryside,” Lenz said, taking note that part of the route followed the Wisconsin River.
Once he had prayed at St. Cecilia Church, he headed back to Madison, to pick up his children, having completed the 326 mile journey.
Lenz said that he didn’t feel any urgency on that drive back to Madison, telling himself, “You don’t have to rush; they’ll be fine. If you’re a couple minutes late, whatever.
“Somehow, I got there four minutes before pickup, so that made it feel even more of a success,” Lenz continued, adding that he had made the trip on one fuel tank; his Honda Odyssey was estimating 20 miles until empty.
‘Why waste a year’
Time has passed since Lenz made his trip.
While he doesn’t recommend that everyone travel to all six sites in one attempt, “It’s nice to know it can be done in one day,” Lenz said.
“Any of these places is a great excursion, field trip, pilgrimage,” he continued, recommending that travelers “couple it with something else that you might be doing in that area. Give yourself an excuse to go,” Lenz said.
Lenz also said that the trip “gave me an appreciation of how much [Bishop Hying] drives to every place, if not in the same day”.
On the drive, “you get to see the openness [and] how much we have to cover as a diocese,” something he is now “mindful of when we give to the Annual Catholic Appeal; we are catching those that we never see or may never see,” Lenz said.
Soon after completing the pilgrimage, Lenz remembered a teacher at St. Maria Goretti School commenting, “You know you have a year to complete it?”
“Why waste a year when I could do it in a day?” Lenz responded jokingly, knowing that he’ll be visiting each site again with his family, albeit spread out throughout the rest of the Jubilee Year.
The benefit of having made the trip is “knowing what it will take when I do take the kids,” Lenz said happily.
For more information on the six Jubilee Year pilgrimage sites in the Diocese of Madison, Jubilee Year indulgences, and Jubilee prayers, visit madisondiocese.org/jubilee