Molly Gettinger
Marketing & Brand Manager
May 25, 2016 // Local

Bishop to celebrate feast day at Corpus Christi Parish

Molly Gettinger
Marketing & Brand Manager

Corpus Christi Parish will have a Eucharistic procession following the Sunday, May 29, 10:30 a.m. Mass in honor of the parishes namesake. A parish cookout will follow the procession and benediction.

Imagine this: sitting in your living room on a Sunday afternoon, perhaps sifting through the weekly ads or weaving toy cars across the carpet with your little ones, when, through the window, you begin to softly hear “Tantum ergo Sacramentum, Veneremur cernui...” The chant is distant at first, but slowly grows louder. Looking out the window, you see a gold-trimmed canopy followed by a procession making its way down the street. Beneath the canopy, a golden monstrance radiates like the sun. At the center of this monstrance is a small white circle — the Blessed Sacrament.

This is exactly what one can see in South Bend’s Council Oak neighborhood on the Feast of Corpus Christ. Corpus Christi Church annually celebrates this millennia-old feast with their annual Eucharistic procession. After 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass, the congregation, led by Father Daryl Rybicki, altar servers, and the choir, process through the church doors and onto the streets, taking our Lord, present in the Blessed Sacrament, into the community. As the procession makes its way through the neighborhood, it pauses at altars set up in driveways for adoration and prayer.

Cathy Osowski, parishioner, shares that “One of my favorite parts of our celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi is the procession through the neighborhoods around our parish.” She continues, “It is a very humbling experience to walk side by side with family and friends as a witness to our shared belief in the body and blood of Jesus and His real presence in the Eucharist.”

Of course, a celebration of the Eucharistic Body of Christ wouldn’t be complete without sharing in community with the ecclesial Body of Christ. Following the annual procession, parishioners head to the Peterson Room, where freshly grilled brats, hamburgers and hotdogs are waiting to be eaten.

This year, the Feast of Corpus Christi takes place on Sunday, May 29, and all are invited to attend the celebration. Father Rybicki shares that “The Feast of Corpus Christi this year will be scaled back just a bit.” Because of the Memorial Day weekend, many of the usual volunteers are not available. But, nonetheless, there will still be a Eucharistic procession followed by the annual parish cookout. Father Rybicki shares, “we will have a shorter procession, around our parish property, before closing with Benediction back in the church.” All are welcome to attend 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass and the procession to follow, or to join simply for the Eucharistic procession around 11:30 a.m. followed by Benediction.

The Corpus Christi feast day celebration is just one of the many ways the Eucharist is central to this parish’s mission. The parish also is home to an adoration chapel, open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. All are welcome to drop by anytime or sign up for an ongoing adoration hour.

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