Sydney parishes have taken up the challenge to take Walk With Christ to the suburbs by planning local Corpus Christi processions for 29 May.
Light rail works in the Sydney CBD forced Walk With Christ out of the inner city, leading to the Curia to call for parish-based celebrations on the feast of Corpus Christi.
A Eucharistic procession at St John Bosco, Engadine, will tie in the Year of Mercy by inviting parishioners to pass through the Holy Doors of Mercy.
Engadine parishioner and procession co-ordinator Gabrielle Kingsley said she approached parish priest Fr Mick Court SDB after learning of the push for local events.
“I saw it on The Catholic Weekly website and approached our parish priest, who was very supportive,” she said.
Gabrielle felt it was important to continue the tradition of the Walk With Christ, “particularly as we have the Mercy Doors at Bosco”.
In Sydney’s inner west, a Corpus Christi procession will depart from St Joseph’s, Camperdown, and make its way to St Fiacre’s, Leichhardt.
Organiser Angeline Kurmann said the procession was planned after Camperdown and Leichhardt parishioners, the Capuchins and members of the Immaculata community all expressed their desire to unite for evangelisation on the feat of Corpus Christi.
“It’s good because it encourages the parishes and the people to step out,” she said.
Angeline said she had received encouragement from people wanting to volunteer to help organise the event and from those wanting to take part.
“They are very excited about helping to do something for the Lord,” she said.
The November feast of Christ the King has been slated as a possible new date for a Eucharistic procession through Sydney’s central business district.
Angeline, who had previously taken part in Walk With Christ in the city, welcomed the idea. “If it is in November it will be a beautiful way to end the Year of Mercy,” she said.
Cathy Kennedy, director of CREDO (Catholic Evangelisation and Renewal Office), the organising body for Walk With Christ, said her team was thrilled that parishes had responded to the idea of local Eucharistic processions.
“Our parishes are where the people are,” she said.
“That we have parishioners out there who are so excited to organise something like this really encourages me.”
The Camperdown procession departs St Joseph’s at 1.30pm on 29 May, while the Engadine procession begins at 2pm and is followed by Benediction.
St Patrick’s, Church Hill, will mark Corpus Christi on 28 May with a 6pm Vigil Mass, followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, a candle-lit prayer service, and Benediction