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Monday, October 7, 2024
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We walked with Him

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For Catholics it’s a unique experience: Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP carries the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Sydney. Photo: Giovanni Portelli
For Catholics it’s a unique experience: Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP carries the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Sydney. Photo: Giovanni Portelli

Procession testifies to Christianity’s relevance – and vitality

Christ walked the streets of Sydney with more than 13,000 disciples last Sunday in scenes not seen for years.

People from every part of the archdiocese joined together for the annual Walk With Christ to honour the Feast of Corpus Christi after a three-year hiatus due to pandemic restrictions.

Young couples, youth, parents pushing strollers, seniors, religious, members of lay orders, and clergy gathered for the Eucharistic procession under sparkling blue winter skies with prayerful hearts and sunny smiles.

“Archbishop Fisher told the assembly that the event was a visible expression of the city’s Christians, ‘followers of Christ, our way, truth and life’.”

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Led by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, Bishop Terence Brady, Bishop Richard Umbers and Bishop Daniel Meagher, the procession began in Martin Place and wound its way up Pitt and Hunter Streets.

Also present were numerous priests, deacons and seminarians.

It streamed past the NSW Parliament, Sydney Hospital, Sydney Living Museums and Hyde Park Barracks, and ended with a blessing of the crowd from the steps of St Mary’s Cathedral.

More than 13,000 people turned out to walk with Jesus through the streets of Sydney on the Feast of Corpus Christi - double the number who attended the last such procession. Photo: Giovanni Portelli
More than 13,000 people turned out to walk with Jesus through the streets of Sydney on the Feast of Corpus Christi – double the number who attended the last
such procession. Photo: Giovanni Portelli

Passing office blocks, shopping precincts, parliament and law courts, museums and monuments, the participants prayed for those institutions and the people who work in them.

Estimated numbers were more than double the last attendance in 2019. Archbishop Fisher told the assembly that the event was a visible expression of the city’s Christians, “followers of Christ, our way, truth and life”.

Director of the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation Daniel Ang said it was extraordinary as always to see thousands gather as the body of Christ to worship Christ’s body in the midst of our city.

“Even at a time when some are tempted to push God aside from ordinary life, the crowds of faithful who walked with Christ this past weekend expressed their real and concrete belonging to Jesus.”

“This tradition within the life of Sydney affirms for us that Jesus is always present in His Church and that our Church is always present to the people of Sydney,” said Mr Ang.

“Even at a time when some are tempted to push God aside from ordinary life, the crowds of faithful who walked with Christ this past weekend expressed their real and concrete belonging to Jesus who continues to call people to Himself.

“It speaks of the Catholic faith on which so many Sydneysiders live today and the desire for and importance of public worship not only for the life of the Church but for the life of our city.”

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