The Catholic Weekly 26 June 2022

catholicweekly.com.au 2 WALK WITH CHRIST 26, June, 2022 We walked with Him “ ... for the procession we join is that of Palm Sunday with palms and praises of this King of kings; that of the Way of the Cross, from his arrest and trial, torture and execution, to his tomb; that of his rising from the tomb and from the earth to heaven. To follow the Way is to walk that path with Him, with the lows of a procession of the enslaved and of the dead, and the highs of a celebration of victory, libera- tion, coronation. And it is to make His way ours, His path our own way to heaven.” Archbishop’s ferverino (exhortation) P10 C hrist walked the streets of Sydney with more than 13,000 disciples last Sunday in scenes not seen for years. People from every part of the archdiocese joined to- gether for the annual Walk With Christ to honour the Feast of Corpus Christi after a three-year hiatus due to pan- demic restrictions. Young couples, youth, par- ents pushing strollers, sen- iors, religious, members of lay orders, and clergy gath- ered for the Eucharistic pro- cession under sparkling blue ¾ Marilyn Rodrigues affirms for us that Jesus is al- ways present in His Church and that our Church is always present to the people of Syd- ney,” said Mr Ang. “Even at a time when some are tempted to push God aside from ordinary life, the crowds of faithful who walked with Christ this past weekend expressed their real and con- crete belonging to Jesus who continues to call people to Himself. “It speaks of the Catholic faith on which so many Syd- neysiders live today and the desire for and importance of public worship not only for the life of the Church but for the life of our city.” Not even the cold weather or other factors such as physical health prevented the many participants who came to be part of the oc- casion. Archbishop Fisher, below, addresses worshippers following the procession through Sydney streets. He then blessed all present with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. winter skies with prayerful hearts and sunny smiles. Led by Archbishop Anthony Fish- er OP, Bishop Terence Brady, Bishop Richard Umbers and Bishop Daniel Meagher, the procession began in Martin Place and wound its way up Pitt and Hunter Streets. Also present were numer- ous priests, deacons and sem- inarians. It streamed past the NSW Parliament, Sydney Hospi- tal, Sydney Living Museums and Hyde Park Barracks, and ended with a blessing of the crowd from the steps of St Mary’s Cathedral. Passing office blocks, shop- ping precincts, parliament and law courts, museums and monuments, the participants prayed for those institutions and the people who work in them. Estimated numbers were more than double the last at- tendance in 2019. Archbishop Fisher told the assembly that the event was a visible expres- sion of the city’s Christians, “followers of Christ, our way, truth and life”. Director of the Sydney Cen- tre for Evangelisation Daniel Ang said it was extraordinary as always to see thousands gather as the body of Christ to worship Christ’s body in the midst of our city. “This tradi- tion within the life of Sydney Procession testifies to Christianity’s relevance - and vitality