About the Founder

Journey of Faith Tours founder Carolyn Norbut developed a passion for travel and its potential for a greater understanding of the Catholic Church after her 1993 pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Denver, Colorado. She followed that with her first international trip in 2000 to World Youth Day in Italy, which cemented a desire to make her travel an annual affair. What began as a personal mission to learn more about the roots of her faith became a mission to give others that same opportunity.

Why create another company, when so many tour companies already exist? Carolyn’s approach is unique among other businesses in that her pilgrimages place great emphasis on the parish level. Her vision is to turn the pilgrimage into not only a personal journey of faith, but also a means for evangelization – for parish groups to be “set on fire” as they journey together, and to bring that shared inspiration back to their parish communities. Her desire is to facilitate parish groups bonding on these pilgrimages, with their pastor when possible, and return home to reignite that energy in their parishes, which then become “mission territory.”  Carolyn has focused on traveling in the footsteps of the saints:  those who have gone before us on a journey to Christ - tapping into their evolution of understanding as a means of helping modern pilgrims find their way to and strenghten their relationship with God.  As Carolyn noted, "the saints are everywhere."

After working in advertising sales for a multimillion-dollar company for several years, Carolyn felt the Lord calling her to something different, and she left the secular industry to discern religious life for three years with the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal in New York. Shortly after that time while beginning her work for the Diocese of Trenton and completing her Masters Degree in Theology from the Augustine Institute, Greenwood Village, CO, she went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and recognized many flaws in the way the company planning the trip ran the event – a focus that was more about shopping and dining rather than the rich spiritual treasures available nearby. While Carolyn acknowledges that the architecture and food were important to understanding the culture of the region, they were secondary to what she wanted to experience; she knew that if done the right way, a beautiful faith-enhancing opportunity existed.

She set about planning a means of guiding pilgrims through the journeys taken by biblical figures and saints, with a mission to marry the cultural and spiritual aspects of each pilgrimage into an unforgettable and life-changing experience. Out of that desire, Journey of Faith Tours was born – named for her own life and transformation.