LA CROSSE, Wis. — Accidents of time and place conspired to highlight the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage at the Eucharistic procession that crossed over the Mississippi River on June 7. More than 3,000 faithful gathered near the riverside city of La Crosse and, together with Minnesota pilgrims, processed with the Eucharistic Host on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart as it crossed over the river originally named the River of the Immaculate Conception by Jesuit explorer Father Jacques Marquette in 1673.

Beginning around 8 a.m., crowds of Catholics gathered on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi River Bridge joining La Crosse with the North Star State’s La Crescent, waiting for pilgrims from the Winona-Rochester Diocese to arrive with the Host in a monstrance. Two hours later, led by Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, thousands of Minnesota pilgrims joined the Wisconsin faithful and crossed over the bridge into the Dairy State. In the crowd were elderly men and women, high schoolers, families with young children and infants, consecrated religious men and women, and young adults. 

On a street corner in downtown La Crosse, Bishop Barron made the official transfer of the Eucharist to the newly installed La Crosse Bishop Gerard Battersby. Winding down the streets of La Crosse, the pilgrims processed with the Eucharist to the La Crosse Center, located downtown, to join “The Answer,” a Eucharistic rally hosted by the diocese. “The Answer” began with Mass celebrated by Bishop Battersby and concelebrated by Bishop Barron, recently retired Bishop William Callahan of La Crosse, and more than 50 priests. The event also provided opportunities for confession, adoration and talks given by several internationally acclaimed speakers — including Catholic apologist and EWTN host Chris Stefanick and Immaculée Ilibagiza, who related her story of faith as a survivor of the Rwanda genocide, also an EWTN host. 

Several religious orders — including the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and La Crosse’s homegrown Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration — were also in attendance. The day closed out with a Holy Hour of Eucharistic adoration and a final blessing.

The event in La Crosse marked the halfway point of the northern (“Marian”) Rroute of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. Pilgrims traveling southern, eastern and western routes will join the northern route pilgrims at the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, July 17-21.

Pilgrims on the Marian Route began their journey at the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Lake Itasca, Minnesota. The route continues along the “Wisconsin Way,” which includes three shrines, Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in La Crosse, Holy Hill in Hubertus, and The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion near Green Bay — the site of the only approved Marian apparition in North America. The pilgrimage will continue into Illinois later in the month. 

 

Family Faith

Like many joining the pilgrimage in La Crosse, Nicholas Lanners, his wife Amanda, and their three boys, 9, 7 and 5, of Brandon, South Dakota, were drawn to the event because they knew God himself would be part of the procession. Members of St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Sioux Falls, Nicholas Lanners told the Register that his family recently experienced a revival of their faith. 

“While looking at the pilgrimage event schedule, we saw that one of the stops was going to be here in La Crosse, and we said, ‘Let’s just go — this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!’ We especially wanted to go because of the beautiful feast day of the Sacred Heart.” 

The Lanners hope the procession will guide the world back to the truth of the Catholic faith. “I think this is an important time in history,” Nicholas Lanner said. “The world is showing so much more where people’s hearts can go astray to idols. … But since the Eucharist is Christ in the living flesh, our faith has this treasure to be able to just adore the True Presence of Jesus.”

Monica Tschann, a parishioner of Sts. Peter and Paul parish in Mazeppa, Minnesota, also saw the procession as a way to respond to a world in crisis.

 “This event is so important for us right now because our country is in a world of hurt; and to have Jesus process through the country, the whole country,” she said, “bringing his graces and blessings on our country is going to make a huge difference and gives me great hope.” 

“My hope is that people's hearts are opened,” Tschann added, “and that more people feel the love of Jesus, that more people come to Jesus.”

 

Joyful Presence

Despite a small group of hecklers who held signs stating that belief in the Eucharist as the Real Presence of Christ would lead to damnation, the atmosphere was joyful, and pilgrims sang hymns to drown out the heckling. Everyone was present at what Bishop Battersby called, in his opening remarks at “The Answer” rally, this “holy and historic pilgrimage.” The bishop encouraged those present to be receptive towards the graces of Communion and adoration. “Jesus promised he would be with us until the end of time,” Bishop Battersby said. “Today, we celebrate Jesus’ fulfillment of that promise in the Last Supper, when he gave us his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, reminding us in each moment that his Real Presence is truth.”

Jesus in the Eucharist, the bishop added, “is not simply a symbol of that Presence, but, rather, he is the reality of truth itself. He is Emmanuel — God is with us. We must be docile to the graces of his presence and become what we receive.”

Bishop Barron also spoke to the power of presence in his homily for the Mass at the beginning of the rally. Tying together the fitting parallel of the day’s Solemnity of the Sacred Heart and the Eucharistic Pilgrimage and Rally, the bishop said, “In our Gospel, carefully chosen for today, Jesus dies on the cross. The Roman soldier takes the lance, pierces the side, and St. John insists on witnessing to this, out comes water and blood. What is being pierced? Literally the heart of Jesus, the physical organ, yes indeed, but symbolically what is being pierced is the very core of who he is.”

“That is why it is so appropriate that we gather as a part of this Eucharistic Revival, indeed, at the culmination of the Eucharistic procession, on this feast of the Sacred Heart,” Bishop Barron added. “Jesus pours forth from that Heart the Eucharist and awakens in us from our hearts an answering response of love.”

 

Keeping Jesus Company

Speaking with the Register, Mother Mary Agnes, 56, superior of the Seraphic Adorers of the Child Jesus, located in the La Crosse Diocese, in Plover, Wisconsin, encouraged the faithful to go to Christ’s heart. 

“The faithful need to hear that he is the King who loves us with all his heart, and he really desires our presence to be with him,” Mother Mary Agnes said. “He didn’t come here to be left in a tabernacle alone. He came here so that he could share our lives. He wants to be our food, but also our companion on the journey. So he wants us to go to him with all of our problems, he wants us to share our days, and he loves it when we adore him, when we go and keep him company.” 

 

Youthful Renewal

Young people also recognized the importance of the La Crosse event. Elizabeth Kitzhaber, 18, a rising freshman at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, and a parishioner at St. John the Baptist in Marshfield, Wisconsin, saw the event as an effective way of spreading the truth of the Real Presence. 

“The faithful need to hear the truth about the Eucharist because there is a lot of need in the world,” she said. “A lot of people are forgetting about how true the Eucharist is. And a public event like this helps spread this truth more quickly! One by one takes longer, but through these big gatherings, more people’s hearts are touched and then they are able to go out and spread the truth to more people. I hope that this event brings more clarity about the teachings of the Eucharist and that it helps our world even just a little bit.”

Joseph Glatzcak, from St. Paul’s parish in Mosinee, Wisconsin, and a recently ordained transitional deacon for the Diocese of La Crosse, concurs with Kitzhaber. 

“Obviously, the faithful need to hear that Jesus is present in the Eucharist, but even more so they need to experience that,” he told the Register. “It’s not always easy to sit for an hour in adoration; it can seem like you are twiddling your thumbs, and it’s so quiet. But the Holy Spirit works in silence. One of the Eucharistic Prayers of the Mass talks about the ‘dewfall,’ which is done in silence — you don’t really see it falling from the sky, but, all of a sudden, you notice that moisture has condensed into manna on the ground. You see the result. This really speaks to sitting in adoration and being with Jesus and experiencing his presence.”

Barbara Curley filed this report from La Crosse.