Along his route, Adam will stop in parishes, meet with seminarians, and celebrate Mass, which will be live-streamed on his social media platforms. He wants to connect with young people, whether that be in-person or over his virtual interface.
Although Adam will stay in rectories of parishes overnight, between Jackson and Natchez there is "no ecclessial place to stay," and he will instead spend the night at a campground. Young college students and others discerning a call to the priesthood and religious life will camp out with him.
Adam hopes that he can lay the groundwork for "a culture of vocations" in the diocese of Jackson among these young people.
Although it is the largest diocese East of the Mississippi, the Jackson diocese has always been served by mission priests. There were so many Irish priests in the diocese that when he was little, Adam thought being Irish was a requirement for the priesthood. Now most of the missionary priests come from Mexico, Latin America, and India.
"We have very few native Mississippians who are priests for our diocese," he said. "My dream, and I think our call, is to create a presbyterate that again honors those who have evangelized our communities, but do that by filling our parishes with men who grew up in the state."
He hopes that this trip, which he calls his "tour de priest," will encourage young people to enter seminaries and convents in order to discern their calling.
The bike that will take him across the diocese is itself an artifact of several vocations.
"It's been passed down, I think, from a baptist minister, to a Catholic monsignor, to a Catholic priest, finally to me as a seminarian. I mean, it's got to be like 20 years old," he said. "But it's still rolling."