Pilgrims carrying the Blessed Sacrament process to the Rhode Island State House during the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, bringing prayer and public witness to one of the route’s many stops across the country. (Photo courtesy of National Eucharistic Congress)
Their hometowns ranged from San Francisco Bay to San Angelo, Texas, from the land of cheesesteaks to the land of cheeseheads, including our own Milwaukee-born son.
I got to watch Anthony Sorgi share in the experience of proclaiming Christ present in the Eucharist on Sunday, July 5, walking the final 2.2 miles of one of the largest traveling Eucharistic adoration periods in American history. He joined thousands on the streets of North Philadelphia between the shrine of St. Katharine Drexel and the shrine of St. John Neumann to end the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, whose title was “One Nation Under God.”
“It was incredible,” the faithful but tired teenager who was baptized at Gesu Parish, Milwaukee, said Monday. “A great way to close the pilgrimage.”
The path took Jesus in adoration on more than a monthlong pilgrimage, from Memorial Day at St. Augustine, Florida, north to Boston, Massachusetts, where much of the Revolutionary War began, to the birthplace of America on July 4, 1776.
A day after his current home of Philadelphia celebrated that 250th birthday, thousands of its residents and hundreds of travelers prayed for our nation as they encountered Jesus at a special Mass with a message from Pope Leo XIV, someone who worked for the Catholic Church of Philadelphia as a landscaper while studying at Villanova University.
“This nation, united under God, has been imbued with a sense of faith that recognizes God’s sovereignty even before its formal establishment,” the Holy Father said.
Anthony, and thousands who overflowed the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul, heard countless messages of unity amidst the current divisions of our time, from the Holy Father to bishops including Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez and the bishop who helped start the pilgrimage on Memorial Day, Bishop Erik Pohlmeier.
Philadelphia’s archbishop later shared words offered by Pope Leo XIV earlier in the week during his own homily on Sunday.
“The inherent worth of every human life has led the noble hearts of generations to praise the marvelous works of the Creator and stand in reverence before so precious a gift. Indeed, it is precisely this reverence that we must continue to cultivate,” the Holy Father said as he received the Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center.
“The moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to support, protect and cherish the lives of all, especially the most vulnerable and those whose worth is questioned.”
Anthony got a fifth-row seat to a Mass with more than 100 clergy and religious from Florida to Oakland, conveyed in four languages in ways from ancient Latin chant to Black Gospel songs, sung by people who vote different ways, sung by people of different backgrounds, sung by Packers fans like our son and Bears fans like Zachary Dotson from Chicago who is considering the seminary. He took the entire pilgrimage route from Florida to Philadelphia.
Jesus took them both and thousands of other followers down the Wisconsin Avenue of Philadelphia, the world-famous Broad Street, where thousands could see Jesus being held by Archbishop Pérez amidst 95-degree heat.
“The public display is really cool. I think that maybe to someone on the outside who doesn’t know anything about the Church, maybe belongs to a different religion or no religion at all,” said the young man who finds God in everything from the Eucharist in weekly adoration to his near-daily encounters with the guy who runs the Halal cart down the corner from the Marquette High of Philadelphia, St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in North Philly.
“It was a hot day, the sun was beating down, people were getting sunburned, but they were still out there. I think to someone of a different tradition — or maybe they don’t have a faith tradition at all — for those people to see that on the street, the Catholic Church (wanting) bring the Eucharist to the public, I think that’s a really cool thing.”
Anthony was not alone in experiencing the power of the Eucharist to unite.
“To walk it with the Lord and to walk it with so many people was an encouragement for my faith,” said Emily Pearson from Loveland, Colorado.
“Sometimes we can feel alone in our faith, especially in the world when we’re fighting against so many different things.”
She and Anthony saw many Philadelphians who weren’t part of the procession simply gazing and watching — wanting to understand, wanting to encounter it.
“To see the people along the streets who were not part of the procession, who were just coming out of their homes or their businesses to watch, and just to see how our witness affected them just was incredible,” Pearson said.
As she and Anthony both took in the final Benediction at the shrine of the founder of Catholic education in America, they and everyone else recognized a meaning that God will still be unfolding in their minds and hearts for the days, months and years to come.
“No matter where we’re from, what we think about certain things,” Anthony said, “we were all there for a big reason.”
Pilgrims and worshippers watch a video message from Pope Leo XIV during the closing celebration of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in Philadelphia. (Photo by Jay Sorgi)
Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez holding Jesus during the final miles of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage on North Broad Street in Philadelphia with City Hall in the background. (Photo by Jay Sorgi)
