Pocatello, Thursday, May 30

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• The Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist will give a presentation at St. John’s Catholic Student Center about the Holy Eucharist and the importance of the pilgrimage event.

• National and local pilgrims will solemnly process across town to Caldwell Park. Each Catholic community from the Eastern Deanery has been invited to set up its own temporary altar in the park. There, the Eucharist will be presented at each altar, and the priest from each community will bless their faithful.

• The pilgrimage will process to St. Anthony’s Chapel, which is several blocks away.

• Confessions will be heard at St. Anthony’s Chapel, and testimonies will be given by some of the national pilgrims.

• Adoration at St. Anthony Chapel until 8:15 p.m.

• Blessed Sacrament transferred to St. Joseph’s Chapel on the west side of Pocatello. Adoration at St. Joseph’s from 10 p.m. until 6:45 a.m. Friday morning.

 

Pocatello, Friday, May 31

• 7 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph’s Chapel

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All members of the public who join segments of the NEP are responsible for their own transportation, food and lodging.  Please note that due to safety and the distance that the pilgrims have to cover in a short amount of time, they aren't walking the whole way and some segments, walking and driving, are not open to the public. 

By Brad Bugger
for the ICR

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When Beth Huston first heard about the National Eucharistic Congress planned for Indianapolis this summer, she started bugging her pastor, Father Emil Parafiniuk, to start planning a pilgrimage from Holy Spirit Parish in Pocatello to the congress. Little did she know the pilgrimage would come to her and her fellow Eastern Idaho Catholics.

“When I heard the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage was coming through Pocatello, I was just ecstatic,” said Huston, who is chair of the Eastern Deanery committee that is planning activities associated with the Pocatello portion of the pilgrimage in Idaho. “I think it’s going to be amazing and beautiful. Pocatello has never done anything like this before. And I think it’s going to be shocking to our neighbors – we don’t have very many Catholic neighbors.”

Father Parafiniuk has been busily communicating with all the communities in the Eastern Deanery, coordinating activities that will take place in Pocatello on May 30-31. The Pocatello portion of the pilgrimage will begin around 4:30 p.m. on May 30, when national pilgrims arrive at St. John’s Catholic Student Center on the Idaho State University campus. The Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, who live west of Pocatello, will give a presentation at the student center chapel about the Holy Eucharist and the importance of the pilgrimage event.

 

Then, national and local pilgrims will solemnly proceed to Caldwell Park in Pocatello. Each community from the Eastern Deanery – Idaho Falls, American Falls, Blackfoot, St. Anthony, Salmon, and Soda Springs – has been invited to set up a temporary altar in the park. There, the Eucharist will be presented at each altar, and the priest from each community will bless their faithful.

 

From the park, the pilgrimage will proceed to St. Anthony’s Chapel, several blocks away, where confessions will be heard, and testimonies given by some of the national pilgrims. Adoration will take place until 8:15 p.m.

 

The Eucharist will be transferred to St. Joseph’s Chapel on the west side  of Pocatello, and adoration will take place there from 10 p.m. to 6:45 a.m., with Mass beginning at 7 a.m. on the morning of May 31.

The procession will then depart for Preston, where the Eucharist will be transferred to the Salt Lake City Diocese Bishop as the pilgrimage continues south through Utah.

“I think the pilgrimage is an essential and beautiful element of a Eucharistic revival,” said Father Parafiniuk. “It will help us all, including priests and lay people, to understand what the Eucharist is – and Who the Eucharist is – in our spiritual life.”

Father Parafiniuk, who is from Poland, experienced a lot of Eucharistic processions in his native country that attracted large gatherings. As a result, he has been deeply involved in planning the Eastern Deanery activities, said Huston.

“He’s planned the canopy, the bells, the musicians, the role of the Knights of Columbus and the cross (for the procession),” said Huston. “He’s going to standardize the altars.”

When asked what message he hopes the Eucharistic Pilgrimage will send to the people of Eastern Idaho, Father Parafiniuk responded: “We believe as Catholics the Eucharist is Christ. And
that His words during the Last Supper are real. They mean what Christ is saying: ‘This is My Body.’ That’s why we believe this is His body.”

Even though they cannot receive the Holy Eucharist, Father Parafiniuk hopes that non-Catholics will be inspired by attending the pilgrimage and consider joining the faith. “We invite them to adore, to participate, and to ask themselves if, at some point, they’d like to receive the Eucharist. Even if not, in Christianity, we learn from our spiritual experiences . . . This experience can be a community-building experience.”

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*If your interested in staying in Pocatello during the National Pilgrimage contact Courtyard Pocatello at 208-425-7750 x 0. The staff at Holy Spirit secured a discounted rate of $119.00, mention the "Holy Spirit Rate." 

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