Our Mission

To provide you and your pilgrims with a customized religious group travel experience that is professionally organized and at the same time, responsive to the spiritual purpose of your journey, so you and your pilgrims return home deeply enriched in body, mind, and soul.

Our Origins

Catholic Travel Centre’s beginnings date back more than 30 years, when the company’s founder, Scott Scherer, decided to use his business skills to help fundraise for the Catholic Church.

Upon graduating from Duke University in 1981, Scott was recruited to the Marketing Department of a Fortune 100 company. However, he soon sensed his calling was elsewhere. Scott left the world of corporate marketing to fundraise for a small, southern diocese.

While living at a local retreat center near Raleigh, N.C., and still fundraising for the Church, Scott began to organize pilgrimages. He quickly realized his passion for group pilgrimage travel – a passion shared by his mentor, the Reverend Msgr. John Wall, a diocesan priest, who tutored Scott on the spiritual dimension of pilgrimage. For the next seven years, Scott’s business grew as he fostered his passion for pilgrimage, leading groups with Msgr. Wall across Europe and the Middle East.

Throughout his journeys, Scott witnessed a need within pilgrimages — a need for a religious group travel business whose spiritual understanding matched its professionalism in the logistical details of group travel.

Our Founding

In 1991, Scott moved to Los Angeles to share his passion with Henry Avakian, a veteran in group travel. Thirty years his senior, Henry taught Scott the essentials of managing a group tour company whose success was rooted in a superior traveler experience. Together, they founded Catholic Travel Centre. In 1994, Henry passed away, leaving Catholic Travel Centre to Scott’s visionary leadership.

In the continuous development of Catholic Travel Centre, Scott melds the influence of his two beloved mentors, Msgr. John Wall and Mr. Henry Avakian. Thanks to the tutelage of these two men, Scott created a company known for its high quality of service that equally exceeds both the spiritual and the travel needs of Catholic pilgrims.