May 21, 2025

23rd annual Eucharistic Rosary Procession to be held June 1

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Carolee McGrath

SPRINGFIELD – The 23nd annual Diocesan Wide Eucharistic Rosary Procession will take place Sunday, June 1, at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Northampton. The procession is organized by each year by the Children of Mary.

The afternoon will include Eucharistic adoration, the rosary, and an opportunity for confession. Father Gary Dailey, the rector of St. Michael’s Cathedral in Springfield, will speak at 2 p.m.

“We’re going to go with the jubilee theme this year which is hope. And so we chose from scripture ‘hope does not disappoint,’” said Father Dailey.

“I will go through what hope is and hopefully give some perspective on that in their own lives because people have lost hope over the years. People need to have hope and that joins together with trust,” he said.

Pope Francis called people to be “Pilgrims of Hope,” for Jubilee 2025. In the Catholic Church, jubilees are marked every 25 years and are rooted in Jewish tradition. In the Old Testament jubilees were a call to come back to God and stood as a reminder of his mercy. The jubilee year opened last Christmas Eve when Pope Francis opened the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica, and will run through Jan. 6, 2026, the Solemnity of the Epiphany.

Several events are planned for the jubilee year including pilgrimages to Rome, a diocesan men’s and women’s conference and a youth event.

For those who cannot travel to Rome, other cathedrals have been designated locally as special places of prayer for pilgrims including St. Michael’s Cathedral in Springfield; St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Basilica in Chicopee; Dominican Nuns Adoration Chapel in West Springfield; National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge; Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel at Thomas Aquinas College in Northfield; the Monastery Chapel at the Sisters of Visitation in Tyringham; and the Newman Catholic Center at UMass in Amherst.

“We’re going to bring hope and trust together and of course, Our Lady of Hope, in a sense and get people to understand how to be that anchor, which is the symbol of hope in the church and really come to know Jesus and trust that he has their back,” said Father Dailey.

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will follow Father Dailey’s talk. The congregation will make an act of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to St. Joseph. Prayers will be offered for the protection of life; the sanctification of marriage; an increase of vocations; healing for those who have been affected by the sexual abuse scandal; and the protection of those serving in the military.

Typically, more than 500 people attend, with the procession stepping off on King Street and winding through downtown.

“Everyone comes together to evangelize. You see the faith that they have to carry Jesus, the living presence of Jesus, throughout the streets,” said Deacon Daniel Prats of St. Rose de Lima Parish in Chicopee. Deacons Prats has been participating in the procession since 2014.

“It’s an act of evangelization and I said (in 2014) I can’t miss this from now on” he said.

More information can be found at eucharisticprocessionnorthampton.com.