Devoted to the Eucharistic Lord
K of C councils bear fervent witness to Christ’s real presence during the National Eucharistic Revival
By Nathan Whalen and Columbia staff
6/1/2024
College Knights carry the canopy over the Blessed Sacrament and Fourth Degree Knights provide an honor guard as Bishop Edward Rice leads a Eucharistic procession through Cape Girardeau, Mo., March 17. It was the final day of an 845-mile Eucharistic pilgrimage across the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. (Photo by Castletown Media)
While many college students travel somewhere warm and sunny during their spring break, this past March a group of college Knights from Southeast Missouri State University took a very different kind of road trip.
“We literally had Jesus in the truck, in a traveling tabernacle,” said Jared Koehler, past grand knight of the university’s St. Thomas Aquinas Council 15294. “One of our guys said it beautifully: ‘You know, this is as close to the Gospels as we could live, traveling with Jesus everywhere we went, taking him to the people, relying on them to care for us, to feed us, just like the disciples did in the Gospels.’”
For eight days, Knights from Council 15294, together with their Newman Center chaplain, zigzagged across the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, traveling 845 miles on what they dubbed the Anima Christi ’24 Eucharistic pilgrimage. The group of 11 made stops at 21 parishes, inviting local communities to join them at Masses, Holy Hours, walking Eucharistic processions and all-night adoration.
“This was a beautiful response from the campus Knights of Columbus to respond to the urgent call for Eucharistic renewal,” said Bishop Edward Rice of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.
The Anima Christi pilgrimage is but one of the numerous ways K of C councils across the United States have promoted Eucharistic devotion since the U.S. bishops launched the National Eucharistic Revival in June 2022. As the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage makes its way to Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress in July, Knights of Columbus continue to take up the call, emphasized by Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly during his installation in 2021, to be “Knights of the Eucharist.”
RENEWING FAITH IN THE REAL PRESENCE
Inspiration for the college Knights’ Anima Christi pilgrimage came from last year’s Organizational Meeting of State Deputies in New Haven, Connecticut.
“I was fortunate enough to serve the Mass with Archbishop Lori and then carry the crucifix during the Eucharistic procession through the streets of New Haven, ending at St. Mary’s,” explained Jared Koehler, who now serves as director of evangelization and faith formation for Council 15294. “I saw how beautiful it was, and how beautiful it could be to do something like that.”
However, before Koehler’s idea for a Eucharistic pilgrimage in his home diocese could become a reality, he had to convince his bishop.
“When Jared first proposed the idea, I thought, ‘Oh, this isn’t going to work,’” recalled Bishop Rice. “But when they came back with a detailed plan, I thought, ‘You know what, these young men are zealous about this. They’re giving up their spring break to do this.’”
From Sunday, March 10, to Sunday, March 17, the college Knights visited more than a dozen Missouri towns. They typically began the day with Mass, followed by a Holy Hour and Eucharistic processions in one or two locations. In the evenings, the churches they visited would offer confession and parishioners were invited to participate in overnight adoration.
“The all-night adoration is where, as young men in the faith, our prayer lives really grew over the course of the week,” Koehler said.
A convert to Catholicism who was recently accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Koehler is convinced of the power of public Eucharistic witness.
“It’s so important now that we do this as a testament to our faith,” he said. “This is the thing that sets us apart from anybody else — the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament. It’s about Jesus, bringing Jesus to the streets and reviving hope in the faithful.”
He recalled a few of the reactions the Eucharistic processions received.
“In the small town of Van Buren, we’re processing down the street, and this little girl and her family — not Catholic — come out,” he said. “And she pulls on her mom’s hand and says, ‘Hey, it’s Jesus,’ and points at the monstrance.”
In Springfield, the procession passed a church where about 100 homeless people were receiving a meal. “They were loud and rowdy,” Koehler said. “But as we go by, this homeless man with tattoos and piercings yells at all the others, ‘Hey, be reverent. It’s the Eucharist!’”
“This is the thing that sets us apart from anybody else — the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament. It’s about Jesus, bringing Jesus to the streets and reviving hope in the faithful.”
Throughout the week, local councils and assemblies supported the pilgrims in many ways, with Fourth Degree Knights stopping traffic during processions.
“People love the processions; everybody’s longing to see Christ,” said Alex Harold, grand knight of Council 15294. “A lot of the parishes we went to were just filled with this great sense of hope, seeing young people bring Christ to them.”
On the final morning of the Anima Christi pilgrimage, Bishop Rice celebrated Mass at the Southeast Missouri State University Newman Center and then led a one-mile Eucharistic procession to St. Mary of the Annunciation Cathedral.
“This three-year Eucharistic Revival has awakened a latent spirituality that’s been underground, and now it’s breaking through and bearing fruit,” affirmed Bishop Rice. “I see that with our young people — the faith is there.”
KNIGHTS OF THE EUCHARIST
Enthusiasm for Eucharistic processions as a dynamic means of evangelization and strengthening Catholic parishes has grown at the state and local level alike. In Washington, delegates to the state convention in May 2024 approved a resolution to establish Eucharistic procession teams in every council in the jurisdiction.
Knights and other parishioners participate in a Holy Hour at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lacey, Wash., on May 6. The century-old monstrance was restored last year through the efforts of Father Nicholas Rausch, OSB Council 1643 in Lacey. (Photo by M. Scott Brauer)
Washington State Deputy Greg Mahoney said the resolution was inspired by three things, first among them the National Eucharistic Revival itself.
“The Revival is intended to strengthen faith and belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the source and summit of our Christian life,” Mahoney said. “It’s where we receive the courage, strength and wisdom to bear witness to Christ in our daily lives.”
The second element was the Eucharistic Processions Guidebook that the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council produced as a resource for the Revival. State leaders thought the book, which gives step-by-step guidance for organizing a procession, could be the basis of a dynamic state program.
“The last element, of course, is Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly’s emphasis that we should be Knights of the Eucharist,” Mahoney affirmed. “As Knights of the Eucharist, we should be the go-to men of the parish who can assist the pastor in conducting a Eucharistic procession.”
The goal is for training to take place within each council and for each council to procure the necessary equipment to conduct a procession with reverence. Mahoney has urged councils throughout the state to form teams by the end of this fraternal year.
The 2024 state convention, which took place May 17-19 in Yakima, was marked by a number of Eucharistic moments, including a Holy Hour and an outdoor Eucharistic procession. An adoration chapel was also available to Knights and their families on two days.
“Our Eucharistic Lord was present during the entire convention as the focal point of why we were there, which was for his greater glory,” Mahoney said.
A century-old monstrance from Sacred Heart Parish in Lacey made the 180-mile trip across the Cascade Mountains to Yakima to be used at the state convention for the second year in a row. This time, however, it appeared in its full splendor.
Members of Father Nicholas Rausch, OSB Council 1643 in Lacey worked to restore the fragile monstrance after last year’s convention. Bob Panowicz, a member of nearby St. Martin University Council 1636, tapped his jewelry company to clean, repair and strengthen the antique.
“What a great piece of history,” said Mahoney. “[The restoration] was a wonderful expression of faith that honored our Lord in a special way.”
UNITED IN WORSHIP
St. Ann Parish in Ridgecrest, California, held perpetual Eucharistic adoration for nearly 25 years, until the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to the devotion streak in 2020. Now the parish’s efforts to revive its 24/7 adoration chapel have received a boost from Father John Crowley Council 3199.
Father Santiago Iriarte, pastor of St. Ann Parish in Ridgefield, Calif., carries the Eucharist following Benediction at the parish’s Blessed Sacrament chapel May 9. The chapel was recently renovated with financial support from Father John Crowley Council 3199, for which Father Iriarte serves as chaplain. (Photo by Christine Bartolucci)
The council used proceeds from the sale of its hall to provide more than $9,000 for the renovation of the chapel, along with manpower to assist with the work.
“The Eucharistic Revival really sparked the desire to make the chapel a more fitting place for adoration,” said Past Grand Knight Mark Nazeck. “The 20-plus years since the chapel was last redecorated were really starting to show.”
Located in the Mojave Desert near Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, the council includes many members who served in the Navy or work at the Navy facility. The Catholic community there, Our Lady of the Desert, worshiped in temporary locations on the base after their chapel building was destroyed in an earthquake in 2019. It officially united with St. Ann Parish in 2022.
“Part of our adoration chapel remodel was to incorporate religious items salvaged from the destroyed base chapel,” noted Nazeck, a Navy veteran. “In this way, it served as a visible a sign of the unification of the two congregations.”
A crucifix, a statue of Mary holding the Child Jesus and a statue of St. Joseph that were once used in the base chapel now adorn the renovated adoration chapel. In addition, wood from a pew at the former base chapel was used to make the tabernacle altar.
“Many of our brother Knights, myself included, are active adorers, and this new space is welcoming, bright and comfortable,” said Grand Knight Sean Patrick. “The refurbished chapel allows adoration participants and visitors to have a place of reverence and solitude, a quiet retreat for prayer and reflection. We couldn’t be more pleased with how this remodel turned out.”
Father Santiago Iriarte, St. Ann’s pastor and the council’s chaplain, rededicated the chapel on Divine Mercy Sunday.
“After COVID, it took some time, but our parish community is growing, there is more unity,” said Father Iriarte. “God is one, so we’re trying to reflect that — bringing the two communities together in the chapel, because it is Eucharistic.”
‘AWESTRUCK WONDER’
In March 2023, Larry Koerner, Nebraska state faith director and a member of Victor Vifquain Council 7704 in Crete, Nebraska, approached his pastor, Father Christopher Stoley, with a request: Could the council present a display about Eucharistic miracles at Sacred Heart Parish?
Father Stoley, whose parish is 80% Hispanic, had one question: “Does it exist in Spanish?”
He continued: “Because if it doesn’t, you need to get me PDFs of the English so I can translate it into Spanish.”
Koerner readily agreed, and the council soon produced Spanish-language copies of the display, titled Eucharistic Miracles of the World, based on the research of Blessed Carlo Acutis. The Italian teenager created an online catalog of Eucharistic miracles before his death at age 15 of leukemia in 2006; he was beatified in 2020.
The Knights set up dozens of panels in both English and Spanish in the church hall March 1-7. More than 300 people visited.
“There was never a time when we didn’t have people there,” Father Stoley said. “As they went around, they were like, ‘Wow, this is interesting!’ They were mind-blown by it. … To see their awestruck wonder was very cool.”
Neighboring parishes later requested permission to use the bilingual exhibit. The panels were also displayed at the state convention in April, and Sacred Heart Parish prepared to show the exhibit again for the feast of Corpus Christi.
Larry Koerner, state faith director and a member of Victor Vifquain Council 7704 in Crete, Neb., shows young parishioners one of the Eucharistic miracles detailed in a bilingual exhibit at Sacred Heart Parish in Crete. (Photo by Kenneth Ferriera)
Other councils across the country have hosted Eucharistic Miracles of the World exhibits as well. In 2022, Michigan Technological University Council 17237 in Houghton displayed Blessed Carlo’s Eucharistic exhibit on campus, which generated keen interest among students. Holy Spirit Council 4648 in Brookfield, Wisconsin, organized an exhibit that included 40 hours of Eucharistic adoration and a first-class relic of Blessed Carlo. Berkeley (Calif.) Council 1499 set up a large Eucharistic Miracles exhibit at the Diocese of Oakland’s Eucharistic Revival Congress at the Cathedral of Christ the Light last September.
“When people read about these miracles, it has a way of making a person stop and say, ‘Hey, the Eucharist is real,’” Koerner said.
The exhibit also reminds people that a miracle occurs every time a priest consecrates bread and wine, which becomes the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ.
“We don’t know when the next Eucharistic miracle is going to happen,” Koerner said. “Even so, every Mass is a miraculous event in itself.”
*****
NATHAN WHALEN is a freelance journalist based in the Greater Seattle area and a member of Everett (Wash.) Council 763.