Throngs crowd Utica church as part of National Eucharist Pilgrimage

When Mike Brown of Utica looked out his door, he saw a throng he said he usually sees only at the Burgoo Festival.

The crowd was a group of worshippers and Brown was “absolutely surprised” by the head count.

Brown wandered over to St. Mary Catholic Church to take part in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. Dozens of pilgrims – some from out of state – jammed the church to kneel and pray before a monstrance (a vessel holding the Holy Eucharist) that, were it equipped with a monitor, would have logged significant miles.

Organized by multiple U.S. clerics, the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage invites pilgrims to travel with the Blessed Sacrament across the country, stopping at churches in both urban and rural areas.

“You think of the event itself: our monstrance and Our Lord brought across the country?” Brown said. “It is absolutely fantastic.

“Hopefully, with the revival of Eucharist, the election of a pope (from) America, maybe it’s going to get everybody back in filling the churches and the pews.”

The monstrance started making its way across the United States last year and the Most Rev. Louis Tylka, bishop of the Peoria Diocese, was disappointed when the inaugural run didn’t cross into the region. The day after he returned from the National Eucharistic Congress, Tylka contacted the organizers and proposed a detour from Indianapolis via Interstate 74.

Tylka said he was “absolutely” pleased with the turnout at Seneca, Utica and La Salle, where the monstrance was carried in a procession from church to church.

“You never know when they’re planning events such as this – there are no tickets or anything - you just hope and pray that people are going to be there,” Tylka said. “And the Lord always says, where two or three are gathered, He’s there.

“There’s been a wonderful turnout thus far.”

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The Eucharist makes its way across La Salle in a procession from St. Hyacinth Church to the Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine on May 19, 2025. The walk was part of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage that began in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. It also made stops at Seneca's St. Patrick Church and St. Mary's Church in Utica. (Kyle Russell)

One of the pilgrims who added to the foot traffic was Julie Walker, a resident of Belleville, Michigan, near Ann Arbor. That’s a long drive from home – and Walker wasn’t enamored with traffic on Interstate 80 - but she and her daughter attended the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis and relished the thought of extending their pilgrimage.

“We had such a profound experience in Indianapolis that we figured we would drive at the closest location, which is in Illinois,” Walker said, “to attend and just pick up where we left off.”

Joe Plankenhorn of Utica receives communion daily and said he saw Monday’s event as “one more opportunity to give glory, thanks and praise to Him for all the good that He’s done in my life.”

“It’s just thrilling and exciting to see the revelation that we’ve had as far as faith in our country and people coming back to God,” Plankenhorn said.

Tylka acknowledged the good timing of the pilgrimage entering into the Illinois Valley and into his diocese. The monstrance’s arrival comes just days after Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV, the first pontiff to hail from the United States in Church history. Tylka was born near the pope on Chicago’s South Side.

Leo’s election has spurred interest in the faith, Tylka said, and new initiations have climbed in recent years.

“Just this past Easter, we had over 250 people come into the church in the Diocese of Peoria. We had 11 students in one of our Catholic high schools come into the church.” Tylka said. “There is a hunger that is out there for something more than what the world presents. I think that hunger, especially among young people, is to be united to God and in order to be united to God, they need to find a home in the church. And they’re finding that in the Catholic Church.”