CV NEWS FEED // Knights of Columbus councils across the United States are stepping up to lead and support Eucharistic processions as the Feast of Corpus Christi approaches on May 30.
The Knights of Columbus newsroom reported that more parishes have begun holding Eucharistic processions since 2022 due to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Eucharistic Revival. KofC added that past Eucharistic processions have had enormous impacts on Catholics and non-Catholics alike, leading the Knights to continue supporting them.
“Eucharistic processions give us the opportunity to share Jesus Christ with the community and not just in church,” Andrew Young, a Knight from Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, told KofC. “We go out and share Jesus Christ with everyone, showing the reverence that we have for our Lord.”
Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who leads the National Eucharistic Revival and is also the chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress, told the Knights’ Columbia Magazine in 2022 that a Eucharistic procession “is a profound way to affect culture.”
“When it happens, people think, ‘Wait a minute, what are those Catholics doing over there? They’re singing hymns of praise to God in the presence of what looks like a piece of bread?’ It might seem crazy, but because we know Jesus’ word — ‘This is my body’ — we know it’s true. And so we’re proclaiming the truth in a beautiful and joyful way,” Bishop Cozzens said.
KofC reported that Knights have supported their parishes’ Eucharistic processions in numerous ways, which include mapping the routes, providing an honor guard, leading prayers during the procession, and serving as marshals.
Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly last year called for his brother Knights to be “Knights of the Eucharist” and participate in the National Eucharistic Revival, and several councils have realized that Eucharistic processions are one way to respond to that.
“We are asked to go out and spread the Gospel in any way that we can,” Craig Mazzucca, a Grand Knight from a council in Monroe, North Carolina, told KofC. “And for us, for me, actions like this speak louder than words.”
Richard Sandifer, another Grand Knight from a council in Grosse Pointe Farms, urged Knights to talk to their pastors about hosting a Eucharistic procession this year, adding that it’s helpful for priests to know they have the support of the Knights in starting new parish activities.
“Whether it was the processions or establishing weekly Eucharistic adoration at our parish, it was a Knight who approached the pastor about it and pushed the idea along,” Sandifer said. “If we as Knights take our faith seriously, we need to advocate for the activities that help build that faith not only for ourselves, but for all the men and their families around us, because the Knights of Columbus is about building up the Church.”
