Why Canterbury

Daily Mass is arranged before you leave

Churches and shrines are booked in advance, with the chaplain’s name on the reservation, so the group walks into a church that is expecting it. That is most of what separates a pilgrimage from a coach tour that happens to stop at a basilica. Where a group has no priest of its own, we arrange a public Mass, usually in the local language, and we say so plainly rather than imply something we cannot deliver.

A Canterbury escort travels with the group

Not a phone number in another time zone. A tour manager is on the coach from arrival to departure, dealing with the hotel, the driver, the delayed bag and the pilgrim who needs a doctor. Local Catholic guides work alongside them at each site, and there is 24-hour support behind both.

One contracted price, and nobody collecting cash

Group air, hotels, motorcoaches, meals and entrance fees are contracted by Canterbury, so one price covers the pilgrimage and no money moves through the parish. Each pilgrim books and pays us directly. The leader never takes a cheque, holds a deposit, or chases anyone for a balance.

What it costs the leader: nothing

No deposit, no financial guarantee, and no invoice if the group comes in under target. The leader travels free, and that place is earned by the group they bring: it comes from our suppliers rather than from what the pilgrims pay. If the group does not reach its minimum, final payments are never collected and deposits are returned.How leading works →

Since 1984, and more than forty countries

Canterbury has been building Catholic pilgrimages since 1984, across more than forty countries on six continents. That is four decades of knowing which hotel in Assisi takes a group of two hundred, which shrine answers the phone, and what to do when a flight cancels at eleven at night in Rome.Browse destinations →

Nothing about it is the easy part

The flights, the hotels, the coaches, the local guides, the Mass schedule, the registrations, the payments, and getting every pilgrim to the same place at the same hour. Every one of those is work, and we do all of them every day, which is the whole difference. Volume is part of it: we contract enough rooms, seats and coaches each year to hold space that a one-off booking cannot. A travel agent books travel and hands it over. We build the pilgrimage, price it, help you fill it, and send someone with you.Common questions →

Who travels with us

Parishes, dioceses and Catholic schools across the United States. We have worked with 40 dioceses and more than 50 cardinals, archbishops and bishops, and we run the annual pilgrimages of Catholic media hosts whose audiences travel with them.Meet the hosts →

While you are away

A tour manager with the group, 24-hour support behind them, and the Canterbury app in every pilgrim’s pocket carrying the day’s schedule, the hotels, the flight details and the prayers. Families at home know where the group is, and pilgrims know where to be.What a pilgrimage is like →

Leading a group of your own?

We build the same pilgrimage fora diocese, a school, a youth group, a lay organisation, ora seminary or religious community. We also build pilgrimagesto mark a priest’s anniversary. Tell us what the group is and we will build around it.

The first conversation costs nothing.

Tell us roughly where you want to go, when, and how many of you there are. We will come back with an itinerary and a full price, and there is no deposit and no commitment until the plan is right.

Is daily Mass arranged in advance, and who books it?

Ask who makes the booking and when. At Canterbury the churches and shrines are reserved before the group leaves, with the chaplain’s name on the reservation. A group without its own priest attends a public Mass, usually in the local language, and we say which rather than imply a private Mass.

Does someone from the company travel with the group?

A Canterbury tour manager travels with the group from arrival to departure, with local Catholic guides at each site and 24-hour support behind them. Ask any operator whether the person who answers when something goes wrong is on the coach or in an office several time zones away.

What happens if the group does not fill?

Ask who carries that risk. With Canterbury, if the group does not reach its minimum, final payments are never collected and deposits are returned. The leader signs no financial guarantee and receives no invoice for the shortfall.

Who holds the money, and when is it due?

Each pilgrim books and pays Canterbury directly, so no money passes through the parish. A deposit of $450 per person at registration, $200 of it non-refundable, and the balance 90 days before departure. Ask any operator whether the parish is expected to collect, hold or reconcile payments, because that is where trips go wrong.

Who answers the phone at 2am in Jerusalem?

We do. Ask for the number before you sign anything, and ask whether it reaches a person or a voicemail box. A pilgrimage is the one kind of travel where the group cannot simply reschedule and go home.