More than 5,000 Catholics representing a wide array of ethnic communities gathered on June 7 to accompany the Blessed Sacrament through Portland, Oregon—one of America’s least religious cities—in a public act of devotion and a witness to the Church’s perennial faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
Preaching before the procession, Portland’s Archbishop Alexander K. Sample emphasized Christ’s kingship and the Church’s mission to bring Him to the world.
Recalling a solemn rite he had celebrated only days earlier, the archbishop said:“I told the ancient enemy, Satan, that this land does not belong to him. It belongs to Christ. And today we will take Jesus and proclaim Him our King. He is the Lord, the sovereign above all governments, and His kingdom we proclaim. As we carry Him through the streets, it symbolizes our call to bring Jesus to the people of our communities.”
Photo credit: Archdiocese of PortlandThe Feast of Corpus Christi was also chosen by the archbishop for the consecration of western Oregon to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in union with the U.S. bishops’ decision to consecrate the nation during the observance of America’s 250th anniversary.
During the Mass at St. Mary’s
