NORCROSS, Ga. (OSV News) ─ Traffic came to a standstill along Beaver Ruin Road in the northeast metro area of Atlanta Oct. 25 as Catholics, representing several parishes and speaking multiple languages, followed on foot the Blessed Sacrament as a sign of devotion.
Called "Pilgrims of Hope," the fall procession's route linked St. Patrick Church and Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Church in Norcross and Our Lady of Americas Mission, Lilburn, in a prayerful march defending an attack on the participants' most sacred beliefs. Drivers took photos of the passing event, as organizers handed out rosaries to people stopped in their cars.
Organizers estimated thousands of people took part in the walk.
Ighocha Macokor, 41, a member of the Knights of Columbus at St. Patrick Church said he was walking in his first procession to "stand against evil" and to show the faith to people passing by.
Meanwhile, lawyers working for the Archdiocese of Atlanta received a response from the organizers of a so-called "black mass" scheduled for the same Friday. The organizers confirmed they intended the event as entertainment and possessed no consecrated host.
Concern about the event and its possible sacrilege of a consecrated host prompted the Archdiocese of Atlanta to call for a special day of prayer, reparation and public support for belief in the Eucharist.
Pedro Ulloa and his wife, Flor, and their two grown daughters walked in the thick of the procession. Wearing two crosses around his neck, he said the show of faith allows others to "see the good things about Jesus Christ."
Faith calls for people to show respect to Jesus, but some choose not to, he told The Georgia Bulletin, Atlanta's archdiocesan newspaper.
"People can see we want to make a difference," said Ulloa.
Nancy Frost, a longtime church member, spoke about the black mass event.
"We can't have people doing that," she said about the alleged mistreatment of what the faithful believe to be the body of Christ. "I am proud of the people that we have in our community. It just called to me. There's no reason I can't do this. It moves me that this many people are out."
The procession began at St. Patrick Church, which celebrates Sunday Mass in English, Spanish and Korean, serving a large, diverse congregation. Following the prayers, the believers set out around 3:30 p.m. for a two-hour walk to Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Church.
Under a cloudless sky, the faithful spilled over the narrow sidewalk lining the road, reciting traditional prayers in Spanish and English. Lilburn police escorted the believers along the two-and-a-half-mile route for the first leg of the pilgrimage.
A rotating crew of men and women were pulled from the crowd to shoulder the heavy wooden altar, leaving them with strained and sweaty faces. A large sunburst monstrance with the exposed Eucharist was surrounded by white flowers and candles.
Loud booms of drums greeted the Eucharist as the participants arrived at the first stop at the Vietnamese church. It was another five miles to the mission destination.
"This shows we are one united church," said Marissa Anguiano, who works at Our Lady of Americas Mission. She said believers are hurting at the idea of others intentionally desecrating the Eucharist, which Catholics believe is Jesus' body, soul and divinity.
"We know Jesus is alive and hurting him really brings the community together in prayer," said Anguiano.
Around the same time that afternoon, Atlanta Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer updated the Catholic community on a response. Staff at archdiocesan offices were "overwhelmed with calls, emails and messages of all kinds offering support," he said. However, the archbishop emphasized that all action from Catholics must be a sign of "love stronger than hate or violence." He condemned any threats or violence against the venue hosting the event or its organizers.
Lawyers with Smith Gambrell Russell, on behalf of the archdiocese, prepared to take the issue to court to force the return of the Eucharist. A group planning a black mass in Oklahoma returned a stolen host after the diocese there pursued a lawsuit in 2014.
According to the archbishop's statement, the Satanic Temple of Atlanta responded saying that "they had no such consecrated host, and no such consecrated host would be used in their black mass." The group's letter "called their event entertainment and defended their right to express their beliefs by mocking ours," said the archbishop.
"While their letter continued to mock the Eucharist and our beliefs, it also demonstrated an understanding of how seriously we have taken this threat to our core belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist," he said.
In the end, "while there will always be people who mock and blaspheme Our Lord in the public square," the archbishop wrote, "we know too, that he will be defended by all of us who love him."
Archbishop Hartmayer urged "continued prayer both in reparation for all insults to Christ our Lord, but also prayer for those who do not yet know of his love for them."
"Let us pray for those who turn to darkness. Let us pray that they will come to know that they are welcome in the arms of Jesus; that they will come to experience his true presence and experience true conversion," he said.
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Andrew Nelson is a staff writer at The Georgia Bulletin, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
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