CV NEWS FEED // The Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina is celebrating its one hundredth year by bringing a “traveling monstrance” through each parish, to center the celebrations on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and to highlight the vast diocese’ vibrant community that spans 32,000 square miles.
The Diocese of Raleigh was founded in 1924 and “covers nearly half the state of North Carolina” according to a January 11 feature article on the diocese’s website.
“The monstrance is a very important devotional focus for the Eucharist. And it’s, by which, prayer before the Lord and adoration is done,” explained Monsignor David Brockman of the diocese in the article. His parish, the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, “was first to host the traveling monstrance” on January 2.
“For just about a thousand years, the faithful have come together in an official ritual prayer before the Eucharist,” Brockman said.
“It’s really the celebration that the Diocese of Raleigh is 32,000 square miles,” Brockman continued. “It is a vast area, especially when you get out into the Albemarle Deanery, where you could have an hour or more, driving, between parishes … same in the Outer Banks.”
The monstrance will make at least 80 more stops throughout the year, and has already been welcomed by a college campus ministry and several parishes.
The diocese feature article added that the monstrance’s “travel also highlights diversity in the diocese, and each faith community will welcome the monstrance in their own way.”
Brockman said that the monstrance’s journey centers the celebration on “prayer and honoring Our Lord … all within the context of Adoration, so there is a prescribed rite for that. But adding their pieces, as we have a multiplicity of different cultural groups, different languages … it’s the universal Church.”
