Gulf Pine Catholic

24 Gulf Pine Catholic • August 16, 2024 Tens of thousands flood Indianapolis streets for largest U.S. Eucharistic procession in decades BY MARIAWIERING OSV NEWS INDIANAPOLIS ( OSV News ) -- Tens of thousands of Catholics walked through the streets of downtown Indianapolis July 20 for what Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens said “might be the largest Eucharistic procession in the country in decades.” But, in prayer during adoration at the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza, the bishop of Crookston, Minnesota, also said their immense numbers were still “too small.” “There are millions of people in our own states, in our dioceses, who don’t yet know you,” said Bishop Cozzens, board chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc. In his prayer, he encouraged the throngs of people kneeling in the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza to be missionaries to those who need to be brought to Jesus. Along with Indianapolis Archbishop Charles C. Thompson, Bishop Cozzens had accompanied the Eucharist on a truck-pulled float, kneeling before the gleaming monstrance. Thousands had processed behind the flow- er-rimmed float, slowly making their way across Ten (10) city blocks from the Indiana Convention Center to the Indiana World War Memorial. Others lined the streets, kneeling as the Eucharist passed by. The procession was a much-anticipated highlight of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress held July 17-21 at the convention center and Lucas Oil Stadium. More than 50,000 passes were sold for the congress -- the first national Eucharistic congress in 83 years -- but organizers expected the procession to draw from beyond the congress’s registered partici- pants. The float was preceded by hundreds of seminar- ians, religious sisters and brothers, deacons, an esti- mated 1,000 priests and more than 100 bishops and cardinals -- including Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the U.S. papal nuncio, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pope Francis’ special envoy to the congress. At the very front were children, dressed in white dresses and suits, who had recently received their first Communion. They carried baskets of rose pet- als, spreading them on the ground ahead of the Eucharist. Immediately following the Eucharistic float, leading music, were a few of the “perpetual pil- grims” who had recently finished the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, an eight-week journey from four compass points of the United States with the Eucharist that culminated at the congress. Walking with them in the Indianapolis proces- sion was Will Peterson, whose nonprofit Modern Catholic Pilgrim had organized the pilgrimage. Behind them were Knights of Columbus, knights and dames of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, walk- ing closely together, and other perpetual pilgrims from the national pilgrimage. The procession also included Catholic dancers reflecting their cultural traditions. As the Eucharistic float pulled away from the conference center along Capitol Avenue, in the shad- ow of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church -- the site of the congress’s perpetual adoration chapel -- and under a skyway emblazoned with the words “These Roads Lead to Revival,” a crush of people left the sidewalks to walk behind the Lord. The float turned right down Maryland Street and then left on Meridian Street, a central Indianapolis corridor, passing storefronts, office buildings and restaurants, and curving around the Monument Circle roundabout. When it arrived at the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza, Bishop Thompson and Bishop Cozzens disembarked. Bishop Cozzens processed with the monstrance, followed by Bishop Thompson, toward a stage at the base of the memorial, where musicians were singing the Divine Mercy Chaplet. When they reached the stage and its temporary altar, they secured the mon- strance in its base for adoration and knelt before Jesus in the Eucharist. As people made their way into the park, many knelt on the grass or the sidewalks as a soprano sang “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent.” With the hot July sun beating down on the pavement, people knelt, wept or raised their arms, or simply sat and contemplated the Blessed Sacrament. After another hymn, Bishop Cozzens read from Matthew 13: “Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” Kneeling before the Eucharist, he prayed, “Jesus we know the procession we made today is a symbol, a sign of our earthly pilgrimage, and it’s not over. ... We know that you want all people to follow you. Jesus, we will walk with them. Jesus, bring them to us. We want to walk with them towards you, Jesus.” He continued: “Jesus we have experienced in these days together just a small taste of heaven. Show us, Lord, who you are. ... Make us, Lord, your missionaries to every corner of our land.” Bishop Cozzens’ six-minute prayer led into ado- ration with praise and worship music, the song’s refrain simply a repetition of “Jesus.” SEE NEC24 INDIANAPOLIS PROCESSION. PAGE 25 Thousands of pilgrims join the final Eucharistic procession of the National Eucharistic Congress in downtown Indianapolis July 20. OSV News photo/Bob Roller