Catholic men heed the call: Area men witness their faith together at annual march, Mass in Peoria

Hundreds of priests, brothers, laymen and their sons marched Saturday from the Downtown riverfront to St. Mary’s Cathedral for the fifth annual Call to Catholic Men of Faith March and Mass. Starting with a morning breeze swirling off the Illinois River, men of all ages reached the cathedral to the sound of ringing church bells. The Most Rev. Daniel R. Jenky, bishop of the Peoria Diocese, said the march and mass idea grew from a sermon he gave at the annual Irish festival on the riverfront, Erin Feis. He challenged the men in attendance then to come out and witness their faith together, and from there St. Mark’s Parish in Peoria got the ball rolling, he said.