By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
More than 100 parishioners from St. Joseph Catholic Church marched along the oceanfront Promenade in Sea Isle City to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi with a solemn procession, prayers and hymns.
The procession Sunday afternoon was the first ever outdoor Feast of Corpus Christi celebration in Sea Isle for the St. Joseph congregation and is expected to become an annual event, said Father Perry Cherubini, the church pastor.
Led by a cross-bearer dressed in a white robe, the marchers began at the church at 43rd Street and Landis Avenue and proceeded along 44th Street up to the Promenade for their first prayer stop on what was a warm and humid day at the shore.
“The Eucharist is the summit and source of whole Christian life,” Father Cherubini told the parishioners in opening remarks.
First begun in Liege, Belgium, centuries ago, the Feast of Corpus Christi is a solemn tradition of the Catholic faith to affirm the “real presence of Jesus” – the Eucharist – in public.
Similar Corpus Christi processions were held Sunday across the country as the Catholic church enters its second phase of the U.S. bishops’ National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative to inspire belief in the Eucharist, according to a story published by the Catholic News Agency.
The initiative follows a 2019 Pew Research study that suggested only about one-third of U.S. Catholics believe the church’s teaching that the Eucharist is truly the body and blood of Christ, the story said.
Father Cherubini explained that the procession is an opportunity for Catholics to deepen their faith and affirm their belief in the Eucharist during a somber ceremony that includes public prayers.
After stopping at 44th Street, the St. Joseph parishioners continued their procession along the Promenade to the gazebo at John F. Kennedy Boulevard. There, Father Cherubini and the parishioners recited more prayers.
The diverse crowd of marchers included the elderly, young adults and parents with their children. The cross-bearer who led the way is a new Catholic, Jonathan Neiman, 19. Also playing a major role in the procession was Dylan Ramirez, a 10-year-old altar boy.
The procession included an array of religious symbols and venerated objects. Four marchers carried a processional canopy, which covered a large golden monstrance representing the presence of Christ. St. Joseph Deacon Joseph Murphy held the monstrance throughout the procession underneath the canopy.
Parishioner Mike Jargowsky, dressed in a white robe, carried an urn filled with incense as he marched near the head of the procession accompanied by Dylan Ramirez. The aroma of burning incense filled the air during the march along the Promenade.
Some Sea Isle beachgoers who were not part of the procession stopped to recite prayers or watch in respectful silence, while others simply looked on in curiosity at the marchers and religious symbols.
Other marchers carried flags and banners that represented various parish ministries. A handful of children who recently received Holy Communion for the first time also took part in the procession.
The ceremony concluded with prayers and hymns at the Band Shell in Excursion Park, Sea Isle’s expanse of green space just steps from the Promenade and beach. About 150 people occupied the seats at the Band Shell or sat on the grass.
Father Cherubini told the parishioners that they were outside “for all to see and all to adore” Christ.
Robin Nickson, a Sea Isle resident and member of St. Joseph Church, called the outdoor ceremony “wonderful.”
“It’s very spiritual, very religious and very comforting,” Nickson said in an interview afterward.
St. Joseph’s next scheduled major event outdoors will be the Wedding of the Sea on Aug. 15, after the 4 p.m. Mass.
The Wedding of the Sea, like the Feast of Corpus Christi, includes a grand procession from the church along the streets of Sea Isle. The ceremony concludes with a church official and two Sea Isle lifeguards rowing out in a boat beyond the breakers and then tossing a memorial wreath into the ocean.
Last year, the ceremony on the beach attracted hundreds of St. Joseph’s parishioners in honor of the Feast of the Assumption, which commemorates the belief that Mary, the Blessed Mother of Christ, was “assumed” into heaven to be reunited with her soul after her death.
