On a chilly Thursday morning, UNSW students, staff and visitors came together to celebrate Corpus Christi with a Eucharistic procession that grabbed the attention of bystanders across the university campus.
People even stopped admiringly to film the solemn procession of faith-filled young Catholics singing hymns in English and Latin and led by Bishop Tony Percy.
Earlier, Bishop Percy had celebrated Mass for about 50 of the UNSW faithful, reflecting on the great feast in his homily as “a recognition of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist we receive.”
Bishop Percy led the procession from the university’s Squarehouse to its quadrangle, where a makeshift altar was erected. The solemn occasion concluded with a litany of the saints, concluding prayer and resounding “Amen” from participants.
Bishop Percy later praised the faith of UNSW’s Catholic youth.
“I wonder what the mass of students thought and felt as the Catholic students took the Lord around campus,” he said.
“Did they think we were mad? Did they secretly admire the courage of the Catholic students? At any rate, competence and courage is the way to go, and that’s exactly what the students showed.”
For Will Achin, a UNSW student and parishioner of St Therese’s Parish at Mascot, the event was a testament to the presence of Christ in Sydney.
“I think what I found really heartwarming about the occasion wasn’t just the faithful here at UNSW that attended the procession, but the number of people who watched us and took videos of us,” he said.
“That Catholics and non-Catholics can witness to the faith through this procession was really beautiful, and hopefully inspiring as well.”
Natalie Ambrose, coordinator of Sydney’s university chaplaincies, said the students deserved acclaim for their role in the procession.
“It was a wonderful public example of faith,” she said.
“It’s often not easy to admit faith on campus, and for 50 of our students to congregate for a public Eucharistic procession through the middle of UNSW is to be admired.”
