A faith-filled 50th wedding anniversary

Couple traveling across country with Eucharistic miracles exhibit

The Catholic Week

MOBILE — Bill and Peg White are spending their 50th wedding anniversary this year striving to strengthen peoples’ faith, one stop and one carload at a time.

The couple from Pensacola, Fla., are traveling the country this year featuring an exhibit highlighting Vatican-approved Eucharistic miracles throughout the Church’s history. The exhibit, which was on display at St. Pius X Parish in Mobile on Feb. 8-9, includes panels that provide photos and historical descriptions of Eucharistic miracles.

A match made in heaven with Fairhope-based Archangel (Radio) Communications helped them take this tour.

The Whites had an interest in Eucharistic miracles and already planned to visit friends across the U.S. for their 50th anniversary year. Archangel Communications had been storing a Eucharistic miracles exhibit over the past few years and sought added exposure for the exhibit.

The Whites and officials from Archangel Communications met in 2019 and soon the Whites began their journey. They made several stops throughout Florida in January, will soon stop in Louisiana and head west, with stops in Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, California and Washington.

They are still filling in some blanks but as Peg White said: “You want it, we’re here. The Lord is just blessing us right and left,” she said. “We’re going to have such a good time doing this.”

While it may be fun, there’s also a purpose.

“I hope the ones who are Catholic will be strengthened, encouraged in the belief of the Real Presence, and act accordingly,” Bill White said. “For people who are not Catholic, I hope they will come to take a look and consider it.”

In all, there are 152 Eucharistic miracles that can be exhibited and logistics dictate how many the Whites display at each stop and how many remain at the White’s home.

About 50 were shown at St. Pius X and Bill White says priority is given to recent miracles. All 152 of the miracles are also explained online at http://therealpresence.org/eucharist/mir/a3.html for those seeking more.

“The newer ones with scientific analysis, those can’t be faked,” Bill White said.

Peg White said the exhibit has been well-received.

“Hearing peoples’ responses just blesses me,” she said.

“It’s an evangelistic tool. A teacher came in with her class, chatted with me and said she wasn’t Catholic. I said ‘well, you might be when you finish reading this.’ She laughed and said I might be right. Well, she came back after school.”

In order to make their evangelistic journey, the Whites turned in their old Cadillac and purchased a mini-SUV. They place the placards in the trunk and the easels in the backseat, so they can’t be heavy packers. The exhibit can then be set up in about 45 minutes.

It’s a good thing they have the new wheels too, because they’ll go all the way to Vancouver, British Columbia (more than 2,800 miles from Pensacola) for an Alaskan cruise in August. They’ll then celebrate their 50th anniversary on Sept. 5.

Now both 74, the Whites aren’t rookies when it comes to cross-country trips.

According to Bill White, they were newlyweds when they did a similar trip back in 1970.

“We weren’t hippies, but we sure were acting like it,” he joked. “We had a bread truck sort of converted into a camper. And it made it all the way.”

This trip has different meaning for those the Whites visit and for themselves.

Said Bill White: “We’ve always gone to Mass and we grew up Catholic, but there is the possibility when something repeats itself over and over again that concentration wanes. Attention can lapse (at Mass) and (doing this) is motivation to call yourself back and say ‘wait a minute, let’s pay attention. I’m sorry Lord, help me concentrate here.”

“This reinforces everything about the Eucharist for me.”