Corpus Christi Procession of Solidarity

Beginning on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026, a coalition of 25 Catholic organizations in the Philadelphia area, called Faithful Philly, have been joining to give witness, through prayer, of solidarity with migrants and refugees suffering from detention. These groups include Augustinian Defenders of the Rights of the Poor (ADROP), churches in South Philadelphia, and Villanova University’s Center for the Common Good, and the Mother Cabrini Institute on Immigration. 

Faithful Philly has met each week outside the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia to pray and, in a silent, peaceful protest, call for a conversion in the attitudes and practices that go counter to the basic principles of Catholic faith.

These efforts had their largest participation in the Good Friday Stations of the Cross and the most recent celebration of Feast of Corpus Christi on June 6. Starting at the Augustinian parish of the Annunciation, pastor the Rev. Nicholas Martorano, OSA, began carrying the sacred monstrance as an expression of solidarity with the suffering body of Christ that are the migrants and refugees that live in our area. Close to 300 people joined in the procession praying the rosary as the group headed to the parish of St Thomas Aquinas, where they paused at an outside altar to continue with another decade of the rosary and to offer petitions for the situation of migrant families suffering the separation of their loved ones. Then the monstrance was taken by the Rev. John Lydon, OSA, Director of the Mother Cabrini Institute, as they continued the walk down Broad Street towards St Rita’s shrine. Upon arriving the Rev. Robert Guessetto, OSA, presided the Mass asking the Lord’s blessings on all who walked and prayed in solidarity with the immigrant families and for a change in the policies that run counter to the values of Catholic faith.