‘One of a kind’ Eucharistic boat procession set to roll down Mississippi River 

CNA Staff, Aug 6, 2024 / 12:34 pm

Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament will float down the Mississippi River this August in a Eucharistic procession. 

A procession of house, tug, and steamboats is set to launch in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Aug. 14 and land in New Orleans the following evening. 

The 130-mile procession, known as the Fête-Dieu du Mississippi, has garnered attention from state and local officials who are encouraging attendance. The event is a fusion of the National Eucharistic Revival with a local tradition held by the religious Community of Jesus Crucified (CJC).

“The historic river procession is planned in conjunction with the national three-year Eucharistic Revival taking place in the United States and is intended as a missionary endeavor following on the heels of the recent National Eucharistic Congress held in Indianapolis this past July,” read the Aug. 4 press release. 

“Over the past three years the Catholic Church in the United States of America has been experiencing a Eucharistic Revival,” said nationally-acclaimed speaker and Baton Rouge pastor Father Josh Johnson in a statement shared with CNA. “The bishops are now sending all Catholics out on mission to share our Eucharistic Lord with everyone throughout our neighborhoods, on the highways, and even in the water!”

Jesus in the Eucharist will be accompanied by at least 14 boats.  

While a procession on foot is usually led by a crossbearer, this procession will have a dedicated boat to carry a specially-made 17-foot-tall crucifix. Another vessel carrying historic bells will announce the coming of the Blessed Sacrament, while a houseboat will bear the 14-foot-tall monstrance.

Beyond the Bayou 

While the traditional procession is on the Bayou Teche, this year’s 10th annual procession will float along the Mississippi River, blessing the state of Louisiana and the river itself.

Louisiana’s governor and local mayors have encouraged residents to attend the river procession, citing its historical and religious significance. 

“The Mighty Mississippi, once named the River of the Immaculate Conception, has been a blessing to our great state with all types of industry, commerce, worship, and recreation occurring on its waters and along its banks,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said in the press release. 

Landry said the procession is “an historic moment in our state, highlighting the strong faith of our people and giving us an opportunity to ask God for his protection.”

“This historic event not only celebrates our faith but also unites our community in a spirit of reverence and reflection,” Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Broome added.  

“New Orleans could not be the world-class city it is today without the Mississippi River and those who work hard on it day in and day out to provide for their families,” noted New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who said she “could not be more excited for the Fête-Dieu du Mississippi to bless our city, state, and river!”

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans in a July 31 letter shared with CNA said the event is “one of a kind,” calling it “an extraordinary public witness of our faith” and encouraging laity, religious, and clergy to participate.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who headed the National Eucharistic Revival and Congress, endorsed the event, encouraging people to attend the Masses and processions.  

“As the bishop of the diocese where the Mississippi begins, I am so delighted that the wonderful tradition of the Fête-Dieu du Mississippi continues to grow,” Cozzens said in a statement. “As we saw through the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage and Congress, whenever we honor Our Lord in the Eucharist, he pours out blessings upon us and our country.”

130 miles along the Mississippi

This year’s procession is set to begin with Mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral celebrated by Bishop Michael Duca of Baton Rouge followed by a milelong procession on foot to the river. 

“It is my prayer that the men and women participating on any leg of the procession route will be living witnesses of Christ, awakening a faith-filled fire and inspiring those around them to love one another as he has loved us first,” Duca said in the press release.

Along the Mississippi River, Eucharistic Revival rally spots will host speakers, prayer, and mobile confessionals while participants await the flotilla’s passing. The Blessed Sacrament will travel through Plaquemine, Donaldsonville, Convent, Luling, and Audubon Fly before reaching its final stop in New Orleans. 

Local businessman Kurt Crosby of Crosby Tugs volunteered his houseboat to carry the Eucharist as well as a tugboat to push the “floating church” that will carry religious sisters, brothers, and priests on the river procession. 

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“We are looking forward to the event, most importantly to show people the living Eucharistic Lord on the Mississippi River in this starving world,” Crosby said in the press release. 

When the boats arrive in Convent at the end of the day, participants will process to St. Michael the Archangel Church, where all-night prayer will be offered. Father Vincent Dufresne, pastor of St. Michael’s, has been organizing more than 100 volunteers in preparation for the event.  

“It is my prayer that all participants, young and old alike, will be strengthened by this experience of community devotion to Our Lord and Savior; that they will continue to work for an ongoing awareness of Jesus in his real presence with us in our local churches,” he said in the press release. 

The first-ever blessing of the Mississippi River and the state of Louisiana will take place on the solemnity of the Assumption at the Audubon Fly as the flotilla makes its way along the river. 

The event will also feature a Holy Hour on the Steamboat Natchez, where participants may pray and make a Holy Hour on the water. The steamboat will meet up with the flotilla for the last hour on Aug. 15, according to an archdiocese spokesperson. 

The flotilla is set to arrive in the French Quarter at about 4:25 p.m., where there will be Benediction on the levee at 5:15 p.m. in front of Jackson Square, followed by a procession into St. Louis Cathedral, where Aymond will celebrate Mass. 

“We desire to thank God for the great state of Louisiana and its mighty river and we desire to beg God’s blessing as we embark on our future journey toward him,” said Father Michael Champagne, CJC, longtime organizer of the event.

The historic procession 

The unique procession is an outgrowth of a traditional procession known as Fȇte-Dieu du Teche, which has been celebrated annually by the Community of Jesus Crucified and local Catholics.

“For 10 years, La Fête-Dieu du Teche has led Eucharistic processions down the waterways of south Louisiana. Each procession has been a unique celebration of Catholic faith and Cajun [and] Creole culture,” Louisiana native Father Aquinas Guilbeau, OP, told CNA in an email. Guilbeau, chaplain at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., is set to speak at the event. 

The Bayou Teche procession is in honor of the feast of the Assumption and carries a statue of the Assumption of Mary along with the Blessed Sacrament. The procession makes occasional stops, disembarking to celebrate Benediction at makeshift altars along the waterways. 

“What I love best about the Fête is that it reminds me of the Gospels when people would come from all over to see, hear, and touch Jesus… Hundreds of people waiting for the Lord to come… That’s what it’s like… It’s like you opened the Scriptures and dove in,” Courtney Chrisholm, an annual participant in the Fête-Dieu procession, said in a press release. 

“At each stop along the way, there are hundreds of people adoring the Lord in the Eucharist. It’s incredible and such a gift,” she added. “Every year I have gone, I have encountered Our Lord in a new and profound way along the Bayou.” 

The annual procession is part of a series of creative ways to evangelize developed the CJC as part of the new evangelization: Bible marathons, which entail 100 hours of the Bible being read aloud in shifts; mobile confession units styled after ambulances; and even a “friar truck,” a bold red repurposed fire truck that contains a massive pulpit.  

The boat procession recalls local history, honoring the journey made by the Acadians, who were exiled from Nova Scotia for their Catholic faith, many of whom settled in Louisiana, according to the organizers of Fête-Dieu du Teche.

“This year, barely a month after the National Eucharistic Congress, the procession will go down the Mighty Mississippi, which Catholic explorers and missionaries first crossed nearly 450 years ago,” Guilbeau said. “The two-day procession from Baton Rouge to New Orleans will again claim the river, its lands, and its peoples for Christ and his Church.” 

“I pray that all the towns and cities through which the Lord ‘passes by’ will receive abundant graces of conversion and renewal. I hope to see everyone — in the words of the old spiritual — ‘down by the riverside’!” he said.