Each year, a party of students from Holy Cross takes part in the Salford Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes. This is often the ideal opportunity for students to deepen their spiritual life at the same time as helping the disabled and senior citizens who otherwise could not go on pilgrimage. Students hoping to study medicine, nursing or other caring professions find it is a perfect way to gain experience while learning how to relate well to people who are in need. In Lourdes, we offer our services helping to pull and guide the special chairs (known locally as 'voitures') that sick and disabled pilgrims use to reach the holy sites.

While at the Shrine, there is an opportunity for all who wish to bathe in the waters, and taking part in Mass and the Candlelight Processions, as well as the Blessed Sacrament Procession and Blessing of the Sick, is also a strong part of the programme. There is, of course, free time, and the chance to let your hair down in the evening, socialising with student pilgrims from all over the world. There is also time to mingle informally with sick and disabled pilgrims, taking them on shopping trips and to cafes, as well as to particular venues of the pilgrimage that may not be covered by the main itinerary.

There is also the opportunity for training (known in French as 'stages') as a full 'brancadier' of the Shrine, for students who continue to join the pilgrimage over several years. Many former Holy Cross students continue going to Lourdes for years and years after they leave College, and there is a special group that they join, based in the Deanery.