PEORIA, Ill. (25 News) – Hundreds of Central Illinois parishioners are preparing for their pilgrimage to St. Louis for the Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Peoria Heights and Notre Dame High School in Peoria are among several local parishes and schools coordinating transportation and other logistics for Thursday’s beatification.
“A lot of immediate excitement. We had originally one bus, and it sold out immediately. So, we coordinated with Peoria Charter to get a second bus. It also sold out very quickly,” said Kate Crim, trip organizer for the faithful at St. Thomas the Apostle.
“We also have so many parishioners who are attending, who are not on the bus, who are going a day early, or just driving up early. It’s a lot of excitement here.”
The coordination has involved more than figuring out how many buses to take and which local charter company to use. Crim said organizers also had to determine how many tickets to get, how to ensure everyone could sit together, what itinerary would work for the group, arrival times, security and more.
Peoria Notre Dame is also sending hundreds of students and their families to Sheen’s beatification. The school secured tickets for its students and staff as soon as they became available and filled two Peoria Charter buses.
“Sheen was an alumni of our predecessor school, Spalding, and for students to be able to recognize that somebody who came before them, who learned in the same way that they learned in this very city, and is now on his way to sainthood, is such an incredible opportunity that we just knew we could not pass up. We wanted to get as many people to go as we could,” said school principal Jacqueline Kelly.
St. Thomas the Apostle is sending 112 people to the beatification, while Peoria Notre Dame is sending more than 150. St. Anthony Catholic Church in Bartonville is sending 115 people, St. Mary of Lourdes in Germantown Hills is sending 56, and All Saints Parish in Lincoln is sending 36.
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