FREDERICK – Three blocks of downtown Frederick were cleared of traffic June 2 for an afternoon procession led by St. John the Evangelist Church that drew more than 800 of the faithful into the streets to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi.
Headed by a police car and a pick-up truck carrying speakers that filled the streets with Catholic hymnody in Latin, English and Spanish, the parade slowly marched up East Second Street from the church, continued up North Market Street, then headed down East Third Street for a ceremony at the parish cemetery. It marks the largest such religious procession in the congregation’s living memory.
The focal point of the procession was the Eucharist, encased within a glass circle inside a large golden display vessel called a monstrance. The three parish priests took turns holding the monstrance raised high as they marched through the streets.
The Eucharist was shaded by a baldachin, a large special canopy, and born aloft on poles by four Knights of Columbus. An altar server swinging a censer walked continually ahead of the Eucharist, periodically walking backwards as he shrouded the monstrance in the fragrant smoke of incense. Other servers walked alongside the Eucharist bearing large candles.
About 100 feet in front of the Eucharistic contingent processed nine altar servers, the lead server bearing a tall cross, and two others carrying large candles. Just behind them, four Knights of Columbus guards wielded swords and marched in military style.
When the procession reached the corner of Market and Third streets, the monstrance was set on a makeshift altar near the Up On Market restaurant. As the hundreds of congregants caught up to the monstrance, they knelt on the bare pavement across the whole breadth of Market Street to receive a special Eucharistic blessing. A similar scene unfolded when the procession eventually reached the cemetery.
During the Mass that preceded the procession, Father John Williamson, pastor of St. John and St. Joseph-on-Carrollton Manor in Buckeystown, said the Feast of Corpus Christi Latin for “body of Christ” – was established in the 13th century to reassert the church’s teaching that the bread and wine consecrated at the Mass become the true body and blood of Jesus Christ.
The feast emphasizing the Eucharist was the church’s response to the Albigensian – or Cathar – religious sect at that time in southern France, Father Williamson said. The sect held a distain for all material things and its followers did not believe the clergy could consecrate the Eucharist.
“In 2024 … surveys out there … say only half of Catholics who go to Mass actually believe in the real presence,” he said in his homily. “If that’s true, that is tragic, and we need more than ever to remind ourselves and to proclaim loud and clear that bread and wine will soon become the body and blood of Christ.”
In comments before the Mass, Father Williamson said the American bishops have encouraged parishes throughout the country to celebrate a Eucharistic revival, and the parish responded to that call in part by planning the parade back in January.
He said it required months of negotiations with the city to secure a parade permit for a non-designated route, but he feels the work was well worth it.
“The whole idea of the Corpus Christi processions was to take Christ outside the church into the world,” he said. “It was a very visible way of doing that, and the people felt the Lord was walking in their streets, literally. It’s a very tangible thing to take Christ out of the church and bring him out into the community.”
He said it wasn’t the goal of the procession to proselytize, but he does want to show the community that the church is not dying.
The procession appeared to receive a mixture of positive and confused reactions from onlookers. Many residents and restaurant patrons popped their heads out of doors and windows to watch. Some crossed themselves in reverence. Many others simply stood agape. The procession drew the attention of many neighborhood dogs, who could be seen barking from behind glass all along the route.
As the procession passed Grace United Church of Christ on East Second Street, several congregants emerged to watch the Eucharist parade by. After learning the procession started at the Catholic church, one woman who came out of Grace United exclaimed, “What a wonderful idea!”
This story first appeared in The Frederick News-Post and is published with permission.
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