Some Turnpike Mass Participants Dispute Eucharistic Miracle Claim

Some people who attended the Great Turnpike Mass of 2016 are disputing the alleged Eucharistic miracle at the Mass.

In our interview with James Rotondo, a high school student who helped build the snow altar, he said there seemed to be a Eucharistic multiplication miracle. He said the priest was able to split around 40 hosts just right so that there was just enough for the several hundred people present. “It was God’s miracle that they hosts were able to be distributed to everyone,” he said, “all down to the last person, who then received the last particles inside the priest’s chalice. There was exactly enough hosts for everyone.” You can read his full explanation here.

However, some people on Facebook say not everyone did receive the Eucharist at the Mass.

Trina Hingtgen writes:

This is not true, unfortunately. I was at this beautiful Mass and did not receive the Holy Eucharist. There were about 30 from our bus who attended, including a priest, and none of us received and there were people around us who did not receive.

And Ana Braga-Henebry writes:

Not very accurate. My daughter was at the mass, and she did and ones around her did not receive communion. This is what she wrote in her blog about the mass: “We were still in the same place at noon, when we heard some of the other groups were getting together and having Mass. I remember that just before this, I had commented on how badly the day was going. I thought, “Seriously, they’re going to have Mass in the snow?” But I went anyway and I’m so glad I did. It was one of the best Masses I’ve ever been to. The snow was coming down on us in large, wet flakes and we stood and shivered. The priests only had about 20 hosts so very few people were able to receive the Eucharist. (There were about 300 people at the Mass.) But we prayed and sang together like we had been stranded for no other reason. The entire Mass I was in awe…who gets the experience of going to Mass on the side of the road, standing in over a foot of snow, while more snow is being dumped on them by the minute? And yet there was so much joy. When Mass ended we all had light hearts and returned to our buses with renewed optimism.”

So what explains the discrepancy? We’ll continue to update this if we get more information about the story.

UPDATE 1/28/2016, 4:41 pm eastern: Priest Who Led Turnpike Mass Responds to Miracle Claims

More coverage of the Great Turnpike Mass of 2016:

–> The Inside Story on the Turnpike Mass, From the Priest Who Led It

–> The Best Photos of the Historic Turnpike Mass of 2016!

–> Watch Worshippers Receive Communion at the Great Turnpike Mass of 2016

–> Watch Pro-Lifers Pray “Our Father” As Snow Falls in the Turnpike Mass