St. Michael’s of the Valley, Ligonier and St. Francis in the Fields, Somerset have partnered to launch an official chapter of Holy Hikes in the Diocese, known as Holy Hikes of Southwestern Pennsylvania. We piloted a series of hikes in 2024, as a way to test how the ministry would go and to understand how congregations might collaborate. After a successful initial season, we are ready to launch the ministry diocesan-wide.
The hiking season runs from May to October, although our official launch is delayed until June this year, and the hikes take place in the morning on the third Saturday of each month. The hiking schedule for 2025 is:
- Saturday, June 21, 2025
- Saturday, July 19, 2025
- Saturday, August 16, 2025
- Saturday, September 20, 2025
- Saturday, October 18, 2025
We plan for hikes that are located within a 45 minute drive or less from either church building and alternate between trails that are closer to St. Michael’s and ones closer to St. Francis. During the hike, we hold a service of Holy Communion, stopping along the trail to read the scripture and say the prayers, while sharing the Eucharist at the end of the hike or at another appropriate setting along the trail. It’s a lovely way to have a worship service!
If you or your congregation are interested in participating–and, perhaps, hosting hikes in your part of the Diocese, we invite you to join us for one of our hikes over the summer to see how we do them and learn more about how we determine which trails to use. Once you decide to host your own hike, we will coordinate communications about the various hiking locations for those third Saturdays during the hiking season. Our hope is that each monthly Holy Hike Saturday will have 3 or more options for hikes in different areas of the Diocese, and we encourage groups of congregations to partner with each other to host them.
In addition, we believe this is an important opportunity for members of the Diocese to invite friends, family, and neighbors–especially those who might not want to attend a Sunday morning service–to something a bit different. We have found it’s a wonderful way to build community beyond our four walls. If you are interested in participating this year, please contact our ministry team member Katie Ong. You can also look for information about upcoming hikes in the “Events” section of the St. Francis website and on its Facebook page, as well as on St. Michael’s Holy Hikes webpage and its Facebook page.
