PHOTOS: A Eucharistic pilgrimage boards a ‘sternwheeler’ and travels down the Ohio River

CNA Staff, Jun 30, 2024 / 08:00 am

Faithful on the Seton Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage recently boarded an old-fashioned “sternwheeler” and processed down the Ohio River with the Blessed Sacrament.

The ship departed from Steubenville, Ohio, on Sunday, June 23, and traveled 30 miles down the river while blessing several groups and locations.

At the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, photojournalist Jeff Bruno called the event “stunningly scriptural.”

Bruno described a multitude of pilgrims gathered on the banks of the river with “soul-deep love and adoration for Christ, anxiously awaiting his arrival.”

“I traveled from location to location and met different communities of faithful: different, but the same, in that they were all awaiting Jesus on the gently flowing banks of the Ohio River,” Bruno wrote.

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The Seton Route of the pilgrimage began with Mass at the birthplace of the Knights of Columbus, St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, Connecticut, on May 18.

The four routes of the pilgrimage will ultimately traverse 6,500 miles, 27 states, and 65 dioceses while carrying Christ in the Eucharist.

The routes will converge in Indianapolis on July 16 for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress from July 17–21.