This year's 2024 New York City Eucharistic Procession will culminate at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral with a veneration of a relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis.
After leaving from Saint Patrick’s Cathedral on iconic Fifth Avenue and proceeding through Midtown Manhattan, the procession will arrive back at the cathedral of the Archdiocese of New York for a special veneration of the relic of the Italian teenager set to become “the first millennial saint”.
The “unique religious experience” on 15 October is being organised by the <a href="https://napa-institute.org/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Napa Institute</mark></a>, a US-based organisation that aims to "empower Church leaders to renew the Church and transform the culture".
The Eucharistic Procession will be preceded by the Rosary at St Patrick's with Bishop Joseph Espaillat, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York and its first Dominican bishop, who upon his appointment in 2022 at the age of 45 became the youngest bishop in the US.
The following Mass at Saint Patrick’s will be celebrated by Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, Archbishop of Oklahoma City, with the homily given by Msgr. James Shea, president of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Following the procession, the veneration of Blessed Carlo Acutis's relic will be proceeded by Benediction with Cardinal Timothy Dolan. The cardinal, who is also the Archbishop of New York, was recently in the headlines after <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/donald-trump-and-cardinal-dolan-respond-to-kamala-harris-turning-down-catholic-fundraising-dinner/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">speaking out</mark></a> about Vice President Kamala Harris turning down the opportunity to attend the famous annual Al Smith charitable dinner.
The preliminary schedule of events for the procession and veneration on 15 October is as follows:
3:00 p.m. – Holy Hour and Rosary with Bishop Joseph Espaillat at Saint Patrick’s.
4:00 p.m. – Mass at Saint Patrick’s with Archbishop Paul S. Coakley as the celebrant and Msgr. James Shea as the homilist.
4:45 p.m. – Eucharistic Procession through Midtown Manhattan.
5:45 p.m. – Procession ends at Saint Patrick’s.
5:50 p.m. – Benediction.
6:15 p.m. – Event concludes.
6:15-8:30 p.m. – Veneration of Blessed Carlo Acutis relic.
In 2023, over 5,000 attended that year's Mass in an "overflowing" St Patrick's and Eucharistic Procession through NYC, making it "one of New York's most largely attended" eucharistic processions, notes the Napa Institute.
This year's event event follows a special <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/westminster-cathedral-to-host-eucharistic-festival-with-relic-of-blessed-carlo-acutis/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Eucharistic Festival at Westminster Cathedral</mark></a> in London during September that featured a relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis.
Shortly afterward, the relic made its way to Manchester, in northern England, where it attracted thousands of pilgrims of all ages.
<a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/video-blessed-carlo-acutis-comes-to-manchester/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><strong><em>RELATED: VIDEO - Blessed Carlo Acutis comes to Manchester as the ‘millennial saint’ draws pilgrims of all ages</em></strong></mark></a>
In July, Pope Francis approved a second miracle at Blessed Carlo’s intercession that will permit his canonisation as the “the first millennial saint”, a reference to those born between 1981 and 1996.<br><br>Blessed Carlo Acutis will likely be proclaimed a Saint during the 2025 Jubilee, according to the Vatican, which has described him as “welcoming and caring towards the poorest, and he helped the homeless, the needy, and immigrants with the money he saved from his weekly allowance”.
It's a description that is likely to prove particular resonant for those in New York, a city of immigrants and whose refuge status was immortalised in the sonnet <em>The New Colossus</em> by American poet Emma Lazarus (1849–1887). Its words are mounted on a bronze plaque inside the lower level of the pedestal upon which rests the Statue of Liberty, and whose second verse declaims:
<em>"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she<br>With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,<br>Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,<br>The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.<br>Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,<br>I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"</em>
<em>Photo: Eucharistic Procession though New York City in 2024; image from <a href="https://napa-institute.org/event/nyc2024/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">napa-institute.org</mark></a>.</em>
<strong>The Napa Institute notes that all are welcome to attend, adding that anyone organising a group of more than 10 people or who has a priest interested in concelebrating the Mass, should please email them at <em>events@napa-institute.org</em>.</strong>
