Kevin Kelly/Key photo Bishop Robert W. Finn incenses the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance at St. Mary Parish at the end of the 1.2 mile procession from the Cathedral of St. Joseph June. 18.

The procession, held to mark the Feast of Corpus Christi, was also a featured part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the merger of the Diocese of St. Joseph and the Diocese of Kansas City.

"As bishop of the diocese, this is my fervent prayer: That nothing will separate us from Jesus Christ or from one another in any way," the bishop prayed at Benediction on the steps of St. Mary Church, where the procession ended.

"In the truth and love of this Eucharistic mystery, we must be one," Bishop Finn said.

Young and old, clergy, religious and lay, gathered at the Cathedral of St. Joseph for adoration and confessions before the 1.2 mile procession to St. Mary Church began.

With Bishop Finn carrying the Eucharist within a monstrance under a canopy borne by four Knights of Columbus, the procession moved slowly beneath a nearly cloudless blue sky and a strong sun, with temperatures climbing into the mid-80s and the humidity nearly matching that.

Marchers sang hymns, recited a litany and prayed the rosary along the route.

Twice along the uphill-downhill way, the procession stopped to pray and rest. Buckets of bottled water on ice, courtesy of beverage distributor Frank O'Malley, were available to the faithful, and the City of St. Joseph provided both a police escort and an ambulance and emergency medical team.

The slow procession, however, was completed without incident.

If a prize were given to the person who came the farthest to participate, Forest C. Brooks would have earned it easily.

Brooks is a civil works planner with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who lives in Eagle River, Alaska, a suburb of Anchorage.

Brooks said he is taking a two-week seminar in Kansas City, taught by the Army Command and General Staff school at Fort Leavenworth, and read about the procession in a Kansas City parish bulletin.

"This is an opportunity I never had in my life before," he said. "God wanted me to be here."

Lilly and Audrey Tighe, who attend St. Francis Xavier School in St. Joseph, said the procession was "really cool."

"It was like walking with Christ," said Lilly, 11. "I thought it was amazing to see how Christ shines in people when we all get together."

Audrey, 9, said young and old, clergy, religious and laity were united in one celebration.

"Everybody was dressed up," she said. "The bishop was there and the nuns came, and they walked with us. Some of them were really old, and it must have been hard for them."

Lilly said she thought of Jesus during the long, hot procession.

"I realized how hard and hot it was for Jesus when he suffered his 40 days and 40 nights alone in the desert," she said.

To the crowd gathered outside St. Mary Parish, Bishop Finn said the procession is a public display of faith and unity.

"Our faith is manifest as we dare to lift up Christ . . . to adore him before the world that he came to save," he said.

"To have our eyes on Christ is not to ignore the world, but to see the world ultimately as his, as a place and a people under his sovereignty," the bishop said.

"We do not hate the world, though there are evil tendencies within it that we must be resolved to reject," he said.

"You and I want to love the world for the sake of Christ," Bishop Finn said. "We walk this path through our daily life even with a certain passion and enthusiasm because Jesus himself chose to enter the world and redeem it. Now he calls us to be, in a real way by grace, co-redeemers with him, offering the oblation of our worship and service for the good of all his people, for the salvation of the world."

Bishop Finn prayed for unity and healing.

"We ask the heavenly Father, in his mercy, to make us completely one," Bishop Finn said. "If there is anything in our hearts that would divide us, may God help us put it aside, nailing it to his saving cross, that we may be one."

As the bells of of St. Mary Parish began to peal to signal the end of the celebration, Bishop Finn offered petitions.

"May the body and blood of Christ sanctify this city," Bishop Finn said. "May this Holy Eucharistic mystery make holy our homes, heal our souls and renew our hearts.

"May Jesus Christ strengthen our will for doing good. May he grant us an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life," he said.

"May our Eucharistic Lord cast out all evil, grant consolation to the sick, protection to the innocent and hope to those who mourn," Bishop Finn prayed.

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