About 200 people took part in a Eucharistic procession early Wednesday morning that made its way from St. Joseph Catholic Church in Bowling Green to St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Campus Center on Western Kentucky University’s campus and back to St. Joseph.

It was part of a larger national pilgrimage that began in the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, and will end up at the National Eucharistic Congress in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Indiana, July 17-21.

There are four concurrent pilgrimages taking place across the United States, which is a response to the three-year call by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for Catholics to strengthen their belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

“I think there was some divine intervention that the pilgrimage went through Bowling Green,” said the Rev. Ryan Harpole, pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church. “To be able to worship in the streets of Bowling Green; it’s a blessing.”

After prayers and Eucharistic Adoration inside St. Joseph, those participating in the journey through Bowling Green gathered in front of the church on an alfombra, which means “carpet” in Spanish. The alfombra is made of sawdust and flower petals.

The pilgrimage in Bowling Green was part of the larger southern route, called the Saint Juan Diego Route, one of four concurrent pilgrimages taking place in the United States.