BRIDGEVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, June 18 — The Seton Route Pilgrims on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage spent a beautiful day in two different parts of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, beginning in New Castle in the northwest corner of the Diocese before traveling anew to Bridgeville, in the southwestern suburbs of the see city.
The day began with Mass and a Eucharistic Procession in the Church of St. Vitus, part of the Parish of the Holy Spirit, in New Castle. The Mass was celebrated by Pittsburgh auxiliary Bishop William Waltersheid and concelebrated by ten priests. Attendees and priests came not only from the parish, but also from the Dioceses of Erie and Youngstown, since New Castle was the closest the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage would come to their Dioceses.
During the Mass, which took place after all night adoration, Holy Spirit Parish pastor Father Joseph McCaffrey preached during the Mass, which centered around the story of a disabled senior named Roger from a nursing home in 1990, who, with great effort, dragged himself to Mass in at the home in a towel because, as Roger said in the first words he had ever pronounced to the young Father McCaffrey, "I love Jesus." Father McCaffrey asked whether we recognize Jesus in Holy Communion as clearly as Roger did and whether we have a hunger and love for him as much as Roger did.
At the end of Mass, Seton pilgrim Natalie Garza gave a witness talk in which she described her Eucharistic conversion as a teenager and urged those in attendance, particularly the large numbers of young people, to ask Jesus to remove from their lives whatever may be an obstacle to a deeper intimacy with him in the Blessed Sacrament.
After Mass, there was a Eucharistic Procession from St. Vitus to the Church of St. Mary in Bridgeville in which hundreds participated.
Seton Route chaplain Father Roger Landry carried Jesus in the procession, using the monstrance of the Pilgrimage that has been used to transport Jesus continuously from New Haven Connecticut. At a packed St. Mary's at the end of the procession, Father Landry imparted Eucharistic benediction.
After lunch at St. Mary's school hall, the Seton pilgrims made their way to Holy Child Church in Bridgeville, about an hour away, adoring Jesus in the Pilgrimage support van. Holy Child is part of Corpus Christi Parish. There was a 90-minute Eucharistic Holy Hour held in the presence of several hundred faithful, interspersing silent adoration with praise and worship music played by parish native Audrey Logan.
After Father Landry imparted Eucharistic benediction, there was a dinner in tents on the parish grounds.
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