Parishioners from St. Joseph in Central City visit and participate in a jubilee tour at St. Stephen Cathedral in Owensboro on Nov. 9, 2025. COURTESY OF MISTY PERKINS
Central City parishioners conclude jubilee pilgrimage journey at cathedral
BY ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD, THE WESTERN KENTUCKY CATHOLIC
On Nov. 9, 2025, members of St. Joseph Parish in Central City, Kentucky, concluded the final leg of their Jubilee of Hope pilgrimage series of visits that took place across the region.
Their last visit took them to St. Stephen Cathedral in Owensboro, one of the Diocese of Owensboro’s six pilgrimage sites designated by Bishop William F. Medley. There, the cathedral staff welcomed the Central City pilgrims and provided an extensive tour that taught them about the history of the cathedral and the diocese.
St. Joseph’s previous pilgrimage site trips that year took them to Holy Redeemer Parish in Beaver Dam in August; St. Joseph Parish in Bowling Green and St. Leo Parish in September; the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains in Cincinnati, Ohio, in October; and the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Kentucky, also in October.
A St. Joseph’s parishioner who had participated in the pilgrimage, Lisa Day, shared that she learned “so much” traveling to the different churches and that “the historical information was the most interesting.”
She said visiting St. Peter in Chains in Cincinnati, and encountering a relic of the True Cross, was “the most humbling experience of my life.”
“There are no words to describe the feeling I had when I walked up to the relic and was able to touch the sliver of the cross upon which our Savior died,” said Day. “Touching that tiny sliver of wood felt so much bigger than I can ever express. Just thinking that Jesus had been nailed, crucified, bled, and died upon millions of those tiny slivers broke my heart.”
“As we traveled and prayed together, I could feel the Holy Spirit with us,” she added. “Each one of us was touched in a different way, but I think we all felt God’s influence that we brought back home with us.”
Misty Perkins contributed to this story.
Originally printed in the January 2026 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.
