For parishioners at St. Jane de Chantal, a series of pilgrimages for the Jubilee of Mercy is offering a chance to visit new churches, explore new communities, perform works of mercy by driving and assisting disabled pilgrims and share fellowship and fun at the meals.

But most important, said Father Ed Cronin, they are opportunities for prayer.

“We pitch it as a spiritual event and a mini-retreat for your soul,” said Cronin, the pastor at St. Jane de Chantal. “I spend a lot of time talking about what a pilgrimage is.

Cronin started offering the pilgrimages to jubilee churches during Lent, scheduling one a month since March. They have visited St. Hyacinth Basilica, 3636 W. Wolfram St., and Our Lady of Mercy, 4432 N. Troy St.; St. Mary of Czestochowa, Cicero; Holy Name Cathedral, 735 N. State St., and St. Peter’s in the Loop, 110 W. Madison; and St. Bede the Venerable, 8200 S. Kostner Ave., and St. Rita of Cascia, 6243 S. Fairfield Ave.

June’s pilgrimage included only one church, St. Anthony of Padua, 11533 S. Prairie Ave., because it was scheduled to coincide with the parish’s June 12 festival celebrating the feast of St. Anthony.

Martha Puente came with her mother, who uses a wheelchair, two sisters, and a niece and nephew. If her mother’s health permits, the family is planning to join in the July 17 pilgrimage to St. Mary, Lake Forest, and St. Raphael the Archangel, Old Mill Creek (for details, see Around the Archdiocese, Pages 14-15).

“I think this is good for is,” Puente said. “It’s good for us to pray, to be together, to pray together. It makes us more of a community.”

Her sister Irma Villareal, whose daughter, Cecilia, 8, also went, said she’s looking forward to more pilgrimages.

“My daughter just became an altar server, and I want to do everything I can to develop her faith and show her all the churches in the Archdiocese of Chicago,” she said. “When they were talking about everything in the church, and then Father Cronin was leading the prayers, my daughter and my nephew were really into it.”

The parish is aiming to offer one pilgrimage a month, usually visiting two churches, with plans running through November when the Jubilee of Mercy comes to a close.

While the pilgrimages are free, each participant pays for his or her own meals.

So far, between 20 and 50 people have participated in each pilgrimage, Cronin said. Most were accomplished with car pooling, although the group did use a small bus once, he said.

“We encourage people who are handicapped in any way or who are challenged with mobility to participate,” he said. “We have people who will pick you up from your home if necessary, people who will assist you.”

Other parishes are organizing their own parishes. Youth from St. Peter Parish in Volo — a group of girls and a group boys — walked from there to Holy Name Cathedral to pass through the jubilee door, and the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii is hosting a pilgrimage to several jubilee churches by trolley on Aug. 6 (for details, see Around the Archdiocese, Pages 14- 15).

For each pilgrimage, the group meets in the parking lot at St. Jane de Chantal, at 53rd Street and McVicker Avenue, for prayer and a blessing.

At each stop, the group walks through the jubilee doors and prays the Divine Mercy chaplet together. Cronin gives a presentation on what a pilgrimage is, and how pilgrims can receive indulgences during the Jubilee of Mercy. There is private prayer, the group prays the rosary together, and there is usually a presentation about the church it is visiting.

“The prayer time is what is most important, and the prayer intentions,” Cronin said.

To see a list of Holy Doors in the archdiocese, visit jubileemercy.org.