The Catholic Information Center held its third annual Eucharistic procession in Washington May 17, in which more than 1,000 participants processed through the downtown area with the Blessed Sacrament.
Father Charles Trullols, director of the CIC, said the day was “perfect.”
The event kicked off with Mass at CIC’s chapel. The group of attendees was so large that it could not fit inside the chapel itself, sending people to watch the Mass on a screen outside where they were eventually brought Communion.
The procession began after Mass and was led by the crossbearer, candle-bearers, religious sisters, and young children who recently received their first holy Communion and who laid rose petals ahead of the Eucharist.
Father Trullols carried the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance and held it high for the crowd to witness and follow. A choir, priests, and laypeople followed behind through the downtown area.
As the group walked, attendees said prayers and sang hymns. Some bystanders joined in and others kneeled as the procession passed by.
Gerard McNair-Lewis, a development associate at CIC, noted that the event is held during May, “the month of Mary.”
“What better way to celebrate Mary than to honor her son’s Eucharistic presence?” he said.
The group processed down K Street. The CIC is “the closest tabernacle to the White House,” McNair-Lewis said. It’s “a great testament that religious things happen in our nation’s capital.”
Throughout the procession the group stopped at different locations to kneel before the Blessed Sacrament and hear the Gospel. At one stop, Msgr. Charles Pope, pastor of Holy Comforter – St. Cyprian Church in Washington, spoke outside the Veterans Affairs office.
Msgr. Pope praised veterans and the military, pointing out that “many put their lives on the line so that others can live in greater security and freedom.” He said these individuals “imitate Jesus, who lays down his life so we can live eternally.”
Krista Anderson, an attendee from Virginia, told CNA that her husband Michael Simpson was a staff sergeant for the U.S. Army who was killed in Afghanistan. She felt the moment to honor veterans was a message from God.
Craig Carter flew into Washington for a work trip and “happened to see (the procession).”
A Protestant, Carter said God “wanted me to come to (Washington) early just to pray.” He joined the procession, he said, because God “has been working on (his) heart.”
Lydia Vaccaro, a young attendee from Virginia, said that “adoration has always been super special to me in my Catholic faith. So, it brought me here.”
“It’s a beautiful witness,” attendee Hannah Hermann said. “I like being in front of processions like this, where you’re out and people see,” she added. “I’ve heard conversion stories from people who witness a procession.”
“The procession was beautiful,” Father Trullols told CNA after the event concluded. “Every year it is getting better.”
“We know how to do it better, and it’s growing — the quantity of people, the attention, and also the way we organize the liturgy and the music,” Father Trullols said.
