There is something unmistakable about a Catholic procession moving through the streets. Neighbours stop. Questions get asked. Something stirs.
That peaceful, prayerful, public witness is exactly what Tania Rimac wants more Sydney parishes to experience, and a new online workshop from the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation‘s Parish Renewal Team is designed to support parishes make it happen.
The Processions Parish Planning Workshop takes place online on Wednesday 15 April, 7pm–8pm, and is open to parishes across the archdiocese and beyond. It is the second in a series of online Parish Planning Workshops supporting communities to engage with the preparatory years of Eucharist28.
“We want to build up a culture of processions in our parishes,” says Rimac, who coordinates the offering through the Parish Renewal Team.
“Processions are a form of popular piety in our church and has had a place and been a practice in the church for centuries, and we have been building this culture up within Sydney over the past few years with Bishop Umbers taking the lead with his team.”
Courtney Hall, from Bishops Umbers’ office, who will be co-presenting the online workshop, provides direct support to parishes who look to lead processions and also helps organise the various processions across Sydney with a track record that speaks for itself.
Walk with Christ has drawn crowds of 20,000. Corpus Christi processions have become a fixture of the city’s Catholic calendar. But Rimac says the opportunity now is to take that momentum deeper, into local parishes, local streets, local communities.
This year, Walk with Christ will be celebrated on the feast of Christ the King, opening the way for parishes to host their own Corpus Christi processions on that traditional feast day. The workshop will give parish teams the practical tools to do exactly that.
“Many in the Church have not taken part in a procession before and would not necessarily come to the city to take part, so this is a wonderful opportunity for our local parishes to bring this expression of faith to people in their own parish and wider community Rimac explains.
“Often there is a lack of formation or understanding about what processions are and what their purpose is, so this is an opportunity to address that.”
The workshop is pitched broadly. Whether a parish has a rich procession tradition or has never attempted one, the session will offer practical guidance and formation. Rimac is clear that processions are not just for the committed faithful in the pews.
“It’s an opportunity to invite people who may not be practicing their Catholic faith to something outside of Mass,” she says. “We had many attend the recent Day of the Unborn procession, share it was their first experience of being part of a procession”.
Angelina, a young adult, who was one such participant shared that she was “overcome with a deep, warm sense of peace” as she walked, prayed and sang hymns with those gathered.
“It was incredibly moving to witness so many Catholics gathered in one place, sharing the same faith and purpose. In a world that often feels fast paced and isolating, I was gently reminded that I am far from alone in the Body of Christ.”
Tania also notes that the witness to the wider community carries an immense evangelising weight. Eucharistic processions draw curiosity. Neighbours see something they can’t quite place, and they ask questions. In a world, as Rimac puts it, “ravaged with war and saturated with fear”, a procession offers something different: a visible, embodied expression of hope and unity.
“It is an opportunity for us to show what a peaceful, prayerful procession really is,” she said “And to share our faith with others within our wider community.”
For Rimac, the surge of interest in processions across Sydney reflects the ongoing fruits of what Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP referred to as a “second spring of faith – a new springtime in the church.”
“People are discovering ways of expressing their Catholic faith outside of the Mass, and we see this in different ways when we are intentional in living out the various traditions of the church,” she says.
“But people can only do this when the opportunities are there to engage with in our parishes and wider church. If we are not exposed to processions, then can be limited in understanding and living this particular faith tradition.”
The 15 April workshop is that opportunity.
Parish Planning Workshop: Processions | Wednesday 15 April | 7pm–8pm |
Online Register here.
