Procession unites Carroll faithful

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
Members of St. John Paul II Parish in Carroll are invited to participate in Walk with Jesus, the parish annual eucharistic procession across town Oct. 13 beginning at noon. The faithful will walk from St. Lawrence Church to Holy Spirit Church – the two parish churches located within the city of Carroll.
 
“We try to do it as near as we can to the feast day of St. Pope John Paul II, which is Oct. 22,” explained Deacon David Prenger, one of the event organizers.
 
Pastor Father Patrick Behm and parish deacons, vested in copes, will trade off carrying the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament every few blocks. The clergy will process underneath the processional canopy. Father Peter Pham will accompany the group in a golf cart due to an ankle injury.
 
Deacon Prenger said the procession usually takes an hour by the time the group arrives at Holy Spirit for benediction.
 

Deacon Prenger

Following benediction, lunch will be served in the Greteman Center. Those who cannot walk are encouraged to meet the group at the center for lunch. Transportation back to St. Lawrence will be available for the walkers. 

“Some golf carts tag along with us, leading, alongside and behind us as a kind of protection. Along one side, we have a loudspeaker system that we borrow from Kuemper and someone leads the rosary. We also have someone pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet,” the deacon said, noting participants are provided with song sheets so that hymns can be sung during the walk.
 
Generally, the procession attracts 75 to 100 participants, depending upon the weather and other events. The fourth degree Knights of Columbus and Mass servers also participate in the route.
 
While in the past the starting church alternated, the procession has departed from St. Lawrence, the northernmost church, to avoid walking into a headwind.
 
“The winds are usually out of the north … We decided because the last Mass is at St. Lawrence of our grouping and if the wind is out of the north, you want to be walking with the wind at your back,” Deacon Prenger said.
 
Origins
The first Carroll church-to-church procession was in 2018, shortly after Holy Spirit and St. Lawrence were grouped in 2017 along with several other churches in Carroll and Crawford counties. The deacon explained Father Kevin Richter was pastor of the new St. John Paul II Parish at that time.

2023 procession

  “We thought it might be a way to get the two former parishes united a bit more. There’s always been a bit of a friendly rivalry between the two parishes over the years,” Deacon Prenger said.
 
The deacon pointed out he had seen recordings of bishops leading eucharistic processions in large cities and decided to approach his pastor about offering a similar procession in the city of Carroll.
 
“I went to Father Richter and asked if we could do it. He thought it was a good idea and together we got it going,” explained Deacon Prenger.
 
Fruits of the processions
In addition to bringing Carroll faithful together for the procession, the unity between the two city churches led to offering perpetual adoration open to all parishioners. The deacon said it was “one of the fruits of our eucharistic processions.”
 
“We had perpetual adoration when Msgr. (Mervin) Hood was here. He started with the Franciscan sisters who were retired but living in the convent. It was going strong for a while and when he left and the sisters had to move to the retirement home, it started dropping off and we ended up losing the night hours,” Deacon Prenger said, adding that adoration was held at the convent.
 
Once the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, parish adoration ceased and the parish struggled to reinstate the practice after safety protocols ended. The deacon credited the support of Father Richter and Father Behm in encouraging the return of perpetual adoration to St. John Paul II Parish. (Adoration closes at 3 p.m. Saturdays, reopening at noon Sundays to work around weekend Masses.)
 
Sharing the faith
Deacon Prenger said the procession is also a visible way to share the Catholic faith with the community.
 “As we walk through town, they stop and look and wonder what the heck is going on. This is Jesus going by – wave! It shows the people we are proud of our faith and we want it to spread,” he said. 

All are welcome to participate in the procession and should meet at St. Lawrence Church prior to the noon departure.
 
Other churches in St. John Paul II Parish include Annunciation in Coon Rapids, St. Joseph in Dedham and St. Elizabeth Seton in Glidden. St. Mary in Willey is a church building within the parish.