On the feast of Corpus Christi June 2, perpetual pilgrims on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s northern Marian Route were in the Minnesota Diocese of Winona-Rochester, which is led by Bishop Robert E. Barron — the bishop who, five years ago, first conceived of a national Eucharistic revival.
Almost halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge toward Manhattan on May 26, “amazing” was the only word Riya D’Souza-Pereira could come up with to describe the scene around her of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.
Just after 4 p.m. on May 26, Bishop Robert Brennan looked from halfway down the Brooklyn Bridge towards Manhattan, where he saw a monstrance being carried under a canopy, and a sea of thousands of faithful Catholics from the Archdiocese of New York coming towards him.
In what the head of the American bishops’ conference is calling a “gift,” Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle will serve as Pope Francis’ special envoy to the National Eucharistic Congress this summer.
In the morning of Pentecost at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Brownsville, Texas, a large group of Catholics gathered to participate in a solemn Mass that launched the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s Juan Diego Route.
Eight young adults embarked on the journey of a lifetime Pentecost Sunday, led by San Francisco’s archbishop holding Jesus in the Eucharist, traveling across the Golden Gate Bridge on the first leg of a more than 2,200-mile evangelizing pilgrimage across America to Indianapolis.
Under a cold drizzle, scores of Catholics in New Haven sang and prayed while following the Eucharistic Jesus in procession. This May 18 display of faith marked the first Eucharistic procession of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s eastern route.
In full vestments and flanked by pines, Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens held high the Eucharist in a golden monstrance, making the sign of the cross over the stream that flowed gently from the placid lake behind him. Next to him, a signpost read, “Here 1,475 FT above the ocean, the mighty Mississippi begins to flow on its winding way 2,552 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.”
About 10 months out from the U.S. bishops’ National Eucharistic Congress, an application to participate as a “perpetual pilgrim” to the congress is live, with the event’s leadership describing such pilgrims as the “heartbeat” and “caretakers” of a two-month-long journey.
A year from now, 48 Catholics spread out at four separate locations across the country will embark on a two-month pilgrimage to Indianapolis for the start of the National Eucharistic Congress. If everything goes according to plan, they’ll encounter more than 100,000 Catholics along the way.
