{"id":327747,"date":"2026-06-08T16:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/327747\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T16:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T16:44:11","slug":"feast-of-corpus-christi-marked-with-procession-of-hope-in-pottsville-pottsville-republican-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/327747\/","title":{"rendered":"Feast of Corpus Christi marked with procession of hope in Pottsville \u2013 Pottsville Republican Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>POTTSVILLE \u2014 In an outpouring of spiritual renewal, a long line of worshippers walked in procession along Mahantongo Street on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>The Corpus Christi Procession, a joint worship service of St. John the Baptist and St. Patrick Catholic churches, was held for the first time in 15 years.<\/p>\n<p>The event marked the Feast of Corpus Christi, or body and blood of Christ, observed 60 days after Easter.<\/p>\n<p>The procession left St. John\u2019s around 3 p.m. and proceeded east on Mahantongo to St. Patrick\u2019s, where a vespers and benediction service was held.<\/p>\n<p>Rev. Kevin Bobbin, St. John\u2019s pastor, carried the Holy Eucharist beneath a canopy ushered by members of the Knights of Columbus Schuylkill Council 431.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Rev. Kevin Bobbin, escorted by Knights of Columbus, leaves St. John the Baptist in Corpus Christi procession on June 7, 2026. RON DEVLIN\/STAFF PHOTO\" width=\"550\" height=\"967\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260607_151212.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"1321744\" \/>Rev. Kevin Bobbin, escorted by Knights of Columbus, leaves St. John the Baptist in Corpus Christi procession on June 7, 2026. RON DEVLIN\/STAFF PHOTO<\/p>\n<p>For the second half of the procession, the monstrance was carried by Rev. Hubert Asante Kumi, assistant pastor of St. Patrick\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>About 150 people, members of both parishes, participated in the procession and service at St. Patrick\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Charles Taronis, who chaired a committee from both churches that organized the event, said the revival of the procession came as the Allentown Diocese is observing its 65th anniversary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was truly a joint effort,\u201d said Taronis, noting that the spiritual music was provided by a joint choir from both churches.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Rev. Hubert Asante Kumi , St. Patrick Catholic Church assistant pastor, at Corpus Christi service on June 7, 2026. RON DEVLIN\/STAFF PHOTO\" width=\"529\" height=\"691\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260607_152930.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"1321745\" \/>Rev. Hubert Asante Kumi, St. Patrick Catholic Church assistant pastor, at Corpus Christi service on June 7, 2026. RON DEVLIN\/STAFF PHOTO<\/p>\n<p>In his reflection remarks, Rev. Barnabas Shayo invoked the words of Pope John Paul II, who said the Eucharist gave him the strength to serve the church and the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy our procession today,\u201d Shayo said, \u201cwe demonstrate that we are witnesses of hope to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shayo is pastor of All Saints Catholic Church in McAdoo. He had previously been parochial vicar at St. Patrick\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Deacons John Matulevich and Bo Reiley participated in the service at St. Patrick\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>The Knights of Columbus ushers were Mike McFadden, Greg Verchick, Ron Whalen and Ray Murhon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"POTTSVILLE \u2014 In an outpouring of spiritual renewal, a long line of worshippers walked in procession along Mahantongo&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156,251,223,7631,117116,9015],"class_list":["post-327747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pottsville","tag-schuylkill-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}