By the time the monstrance carrying the Blessed Sacrament has completed the California leg of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s Serra Route next week, it will have been carried across the Golden Gate Bridge, led a flotilla of boats down the Sacramento River, drawn people to adoration at a homeless shelter, and led another flotilla of boats across Lake Tahoe and into Nevada.
Just talking about it, Deacon Kevin Staszkow can hardly contain his excitement.
“This Eucharistic Revival is a historic thing for the Church in the United States, and it needs to be marked by something epic,” says Staszkow, the lead planner for the pilgrimage’s 4-day segment in the Diocese of Sacramento.
Beginning in Northern California and Nevada before proceeding north to Oregon and Idaho and then east, the Serra Route is one of four national itineraries established to bring Catholic pilgrims — led by the Blessed Sacrament — to Indianapolis, the site of the National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21.
Organizers like Staszkow are determined to make the most of it.
It was the deacon’s boss, Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, who first had the idea of moving parts of the route from land to water. So from May 21 to 22, Soto will accompany the Blessed Sacrament aboard a 64-foot boat (borrowed from a Catholic benefactor) with a flotilla following in possession, making several stops along the Sacramento River.
After all, Staszkow explains, the river itself was named after the Blessed Sacrament, as was the city.
“It really doesn’t make sense to do anything except have the Eucharist travel on the Sacramento River,” said Staszkow, who heads the Diocese of Sacramento’s young adult ministry and faith formation offices. He remembers that the plan was first met with skepticism.
“Everybody said, oh, you’re not going to be able to get a boat,” Staszkow said. “But I got a boat.”
Before the Sacramento portion, the pilgrimage will kick off in San Francisco with a May 19 bilingual Pentecost Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption celebrated by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. Immediately after, Cordileone and hundreds — perhaps thousands — of Catholics will process through the city’s streets with the Blessed Sacrament.
After a break to eat and rest, the procession will continue across the Golden Gate Bridge. Coincidentally, the iconic bridge was already scheduled to be closed earlier that day for the city’s annual “Bay to Breakers” footrace.
Having crossed the bridge, Cordileone will lead pilgrims in Benediction at Point Cavallo, a lookout point with views of the San Francisco Bay. The pilgrimage will continue through Marin County, including Mission San Rafael Arcángel, before moving on to the Diocese of Sacramento….
As it heads east across Northern California, the pilgrimage will make stops Bishop Soto hopes will connect with different “marginalized populations,” including a Mass with farm workers in Vallejo, a walking procession leaving from Folsom State Prison, and a visit to Sacramento homeless shelter Loaves and Fishes.
The route’s California portion ends on Friday, May 24, when Soto will again accompany the Blessed Sacrament leading a flotilla of boats, this time crossing Lake Tahoe at sunset (approximately a 26 mile journey) before arriving at Incline Village, Nevada, for a Eucharistic “handoff” to the neighboring Diocese of Reno.
From Angelus News
The plural of “fish” is “fish”, not “fishes”.
I learned that in Catholic elementary school.
learned,
Did you go to a dissenting liberal Catholic school? The Oxford, Cambridge and other dictionaries list fishes as a plural of fish.
Admittedly, I’m a publican, that is, went to a public school (but back when California public schools were near the top, not the bottom).
Any thoughts on the Eucharistic pilgrimage?
Or, only on aquatic life?
Check better dictionaries. The plural of fish is fish. Like the plural of deer is deer.
No fisherman says, “I caught five fishes.” He says, “I caught five fish.”
You wouldn’t ask, “How many fishes did you catch?” Rather, “How many fish did you catch?”
The shelter’s name uses incorrect spelling.
Check the Bible. It’s the multiplication of the loaves and fish, not the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.
The most common plural form of fish is indeed fish. However, under certain circumstances, you can use fishes as the plural form of fish. If you, for example, see two trout swimming together, you could say that you’re looking at fish. However, if the two trout were joined by a salmon, you could describe them as fish or fishes. Fish can refer to multiple fish, especially when they are all the same species of fish. Fishes, however, usually refers to multiple species of fish, especially in scientific contexts.
I’d wager that many of the Catholics working there believe it was the miracle of the sharing.
Pray for those walking and those who observe them in the once-Golden State.