Eucharist

Passersby halted and cars slowed to a crawl as they took in the scene the morning of May 18: Hundreds of Catholics processed through the streets of Washington, following a priest carrying a consecrated host — Christ’s body, blood, soul and divinity present under the appearance of bread — beneath a canopy.

The southern arm of the national pilgrimage launched from the tip of Texas in Brownsville — nearly half a mile from the U.S.-Mexico border — and will wind around the Gulf of Mexico and traverse the country’s southeast on its way to Indianapolis to attend the July 17-21 10th National Eucharistic Congress.

Learning to reverse a truck attached to a camper trailer wasn’t on Mother Mary Maximilian Cote’s to-do list — until recently, when it became a pressing need. On May 18, she and three other members of the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Healing Love are joining the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, and she’s a back-up driver for their support vehicle.