Father Nicholas Nelson: Eucharistic processions? Yes! We are Catholic!

Handing on the Faith 

A quote often attributed to the great 19th century English convert G.K. Chesterton says: “When people lose their faith in God, they do not then believe in nothing, they begin to believe in anything.” When people stop worshiping God, they don’t stop worshiping altogether, they find something else to worship. 

A couple of years ago, there was an article in The Federalist titled “Inside America’s Largest Religious Revival You Know Nothing About.” It’s about how sports have become many people’s religion in all the ways that you normally identify with a religion. 

“What must first impress outsiders studying the life of Athletica is how wholehearted is the devotion of its followers,” wrote Heather Smith, the article’s author. “These disciples are willing to sacrifice almost limitlessly where their dedication to this faith is concerned. Money, time, health, and even family may all be expended for the sake of bettering oneself within Athletica, and it is no exaggeration to say its members orient their lives around the strictures of their religion’s demands. 

“Whereas in traditional American Christianity followers would regularly meet together once or twice a week (a timetable most now find unduly onerous), members of Athletica gather four, five, six, or even seven days a week. Despite the significant time demands, the families of adherents dutifully and unflinchingly keep these meeting commitments and accept as normal the stringent penalties imparted to those who miss a gathering — penalties usually enacted by limiting the devotee’s rights of participation in important group ceremonies.” 

In “Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American culture,” the author Anthony Esolen makes the good point that you can tell what a people worships by what their parades are for: 

“All you need to do to determine what a people worship is to look at their parades,” he writes. “For us in the West now, the parade isn’t a procession on the feast of Corpus Christi (The Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ), with everyone in the village lining the streets to pray and sing ‘Pange, Lingua, Gloriosi’ as the priest passes by with the Sacrament. I do not need to mention what our ‘parade’ now is, who the ‘priests’ are, what they celebrate, what language they use, how they are robed (or disrobed), what they ingest, and what brings so many people to watch.” 

These days, at best, parades are for sports teams and their championships. At worst, they are “Pride Month” parades. Either way, they aren’t expressions of our worship of the one true God, or to honor the great saints, but rather the expression of our own self-worship. 

What a great witness, when other groups are having parades to celebrate a month that celebrates themselves, that we are having parades to give due honor and glory to God! Currently, there are four Eucharistic Pilgrimages coming from the four corners of our nation, all heading to Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress — pilgrimages from the north, the south, the east, and the west. At the same time, many parishes and dioceses are having individual processions to celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. 

If you are not familiar with a Eucharistic procession, they begin with servers leading the way with cross and torches, followed by religious sisters, parish groups, other clergy, then a thurifer, and then a priest or bishop carrying a monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. Usually there is a canopy carried over the top of the priest or bishop. Following behind, the rest of the laity follow. People sing hymns, pray the rosary, and pray litanies and other devotions while they walk together. 

There is no set way to do a procession. There can be many variations, such as the length, types of prayers, and hymns. I like to get rose petals (which you can buy online) and then give them to the children walking ahead of the Eucharist. They then strew the street or path with the petals, paving the way for the King of King and Lord of Lords. People can bring strollers for little kids. 

Processions are something that can be a little messy and casual, and that’s fine. You can also do the same thing but with a statue of Mary for a Marian procession. If you have never participated in a Eucharistic procession or a Marian procession, try it. Processions are fun, beautiful, meritorious, and are a great part of our rich tradition as Catholics. 

Father Nick Nelson is pastor of Queen of Peace and Holy Family parishes in Cloquet and vocations director for the Diocese of Duluth. He studied at The Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome. Reach him at [email protected].