I grew up in Orange County in a normal Catholic family. I went to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days, said the rosary at home, attended Mother of Perpetual Help devotions on Wednesdays and went to Confession once every three weeks whether I needed it or not. I can recall making up sins for the priest because I didn’t want to disappoint him.
One of the memories I have was of our parish processions. Usually, there were three: one in May for Mary, one in August for Mary and one on the Feast of Corpus Christi which was the most beautiful. The sisters made sure ahead of time that we were dressed well, arrived on time and then organized ourselves by ministry groups behind the priest who was dressed in gold vestments with the monstrance under the great canopy. As a young child I was in the school children section. We dressed in our First Communion clothes every year until we couldn’t fit in them.
Then sister with a handheld microphone and speaker would direct us forward, slow us down, move us faster, all while reciting the rosary. Slowly we wound around the school property until we finally entered the church for benediction. Sister timed it perfectly so that the rosary ended as we made it to the church doors.
Everything culminated with the Sunday choir intoning the Tantum Ergo, bells ringing, incense billowing and then all of us bowing our heads as the Holy Eucharist was raised above us in blessing.
Many years later, I was appointed pastor of that same parish, St. Anne in Seal Beach. Now a parish of mostly Irish and German families was bustling with Vietnamese, Hispanic and Anglo families. Remembering my memory as a child of our parish processions, I revived the devotion for a new generation.
On the day, little by little people arrived and groups found each other. I carried the Blessed Sacrament under a great canopy, surrounded by incense and lit torches. A statue of Our Lady of Fatima was carried in procession, along with Our Lady of Guadalupe further back. The rosary was recited now in Vietnamese, English and Spanish.
This time we walked through the streets, passing condos, homes, a theater and a large Protestant church. The first time we had our procession we had nearly 1000 people. The second time, we numbered 1200 plus.
By Father Al Baca from OC Catholic
Good Job! No, Great job!!! I remember those processions at my church when I was an Alter Server. Keep up the good work.
what is normal
In these days when the Devil and his minions have been welcomed by many people it is heartening to hear the story of a young boy growing up with Christ in his life and then dedicating his life to following Our Lord through the sacrament of Holy Orders. Now he is bringing and encouraging his flock to Our Lord and anyone that is open to the Truth to realize how much they are loved by Our Savior.
This is how it is supposed to work.
Passed down through the generations.
The first time I was at a Eucharistic Procession, I was an adult at Mass and had no idea what was happening.
I just figured I should follow Jesus.
Takin’ it to the streets!
If some of the Doobie Brothers are in recovery, maybe they’ll join too.
“Take this message to my brother
You will find him everywhere.”
This is so beautiful. A Eucharistic Procession with 1200+ devoted Catholic parishioners, all ages. I have been hurting very much, seeing photos posted on the Internet, of consecrated Sacred Hosts stored in plastic boxes in makeshift tents, along with many other things, at World Youth Day– and plastic Tupperware bowls from IKEA, being used as ciboriums (ciboria) to give Holy Communion to the faithful, at WYD Masses. These terrible sacrileges must be stopped.
Why did an editor remove my exclamation point (!) in my first sentence: “This is so beautiful!” ?? Makes no sense! Anyway, I saw on the Internet, that a group of young people at WYD were so upset and hurt at seeing the consecrated Sacred Hosts being stored in plastic boxes, in makeshift tents at WYD, they went and said the Rosary, making reparations for these sacrileges. Bless these fine Catholic young people!
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/a-look-behind-the-wyd-eucharist-controversy
The ciboria with the Sacred Hosts were stored in the plastic boxes.
This article explains.
And, the young people are certain those were hosts after consecration?
I hope they were unconsecrated hosts awaiting future Masses.
The plastic boxes, stacked on a table in a makeshift tent, definitely contained consecrated Sacred Hosts, which were later transfered to IKEA Tupperware bowls, used as makeshift ciboria at Mass, to give Holy Communion to WYD participants– another scandalous sacrilege, hurting the devout, young Catholic WYD participants. The clergy in charge should never have allowed this.
No you have got it wrong.
The bowls were at a separate event.
The plastic bowls were for a different Mass. Very wrong– a liturgical abuse.
Curious, they were consecrated hosts in ciboria. Apparently at this tent, something went wrong and the 2 adorers were not there. Also they were supposed to be veiled and were not.
It was not just consecrated hosts thrown into a plastic box.
Once again, the internet has to create a scandal.
This was scandalous. A liturgical abuse. You should know that. Totally improper for all-night Adoration.
Jesus can handle it.
It was a sacrilege, highly disrespectful to Jesus. It hurt those good, devout, sincere Catholic young people, to travel all the way to Lisbon, Portugal, to attend their special WYD– and see such a sacrilege. The clergy in charge should never have allowed this!
It really is not a sacrilege but the young people being scandalized did the right thing by adoring and making reparation if they felt it was.
This was a terrible liturgical abuse! And yes– a scandalous sacrilege, as some clerics noted. Totally improper for all-night Adoration! And totally wrong, for giving Holy Communion at Mass.
Holy Communion should never be given at any Mass, from a plastic bowl. Liturgical abuse. Also, those plastic bowls and boxes all need a proper post-Communion cleansing, as there may be particles of the Sacred Hosts left in them– they are not proper ciboria, and there are special Church rules for cleansing Sacred Vessels.
Yes, it was done properly. Read the article.
Regardless– this was wrong.
Here is a link to a good article, with photos, of the recent WYD incident:
https://www.pillarcatholic.
com/p/a-look-behind-the-wyd-eucharist-controversy
Oh– I see that the commenter– “plastic boxes”– already gave this link, on Aug. 12, at 4:34pm.
Oh– I see that another good commenter, with the moniker, “plastic boxes,” already contributed this link, on Aug. 12 at 4:34pm. Great!