National Eucharistic Congress: United by their love for the Eucharist

Amazing! Talk with people who traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana, in July for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, and there’s a good chance that that is a word you will hear.

“The whole thing was pretty amazing because of just the sheer number of people,” says Penny Wolfe, pastoral life coordinator at St. Brendan the Navigator Parish in Camden. “It bolsters confidence in God. When you’re with 60,000 other believers, you know you’re not alone in the faith.”

“Overall, it was incredible,” says Shawn Gregory, coordinator of youth ministry for the Diocese of Portland. “My term is that it was ‘beautifully overwhelming.’”

“It was just incredibly amazing. I think sometimes people make the argument that the Church might be aging or the Church isn’t vibrant or whatever the case may be, but it is certainly alive and well,” says Tracy Guerrette of St. Agatha. “It was a demographic of youth, families, and older people as well. It was generational.”

“It was really wonderful and awesome to be in that arena and feel the excitement and to see the young nuns and the young priests,” says Jennifer Nelson, a member of All Saints Parish in Brunswick, who serves as I.T. director for the diocese. “It was just so invigorating to see young families with five kids, with six kids, all the littles. It was just inspiring.”

The National Eucharistic Congress began on July 17 with the arrival of pilgrims who had carried the Eucharist to Indianapolis from four regions of the United States, covering 6,500 miles over a period of 59 days. They were soon joined by thousands more from this country and beyond, all united by their love for Christ, present in the Eucharist. While the crowds were large, the Maine participants describe the atmosphere as reverent, respectful, and congenial.

“You felt, when you were in this room together, that we came together for something, for the Eucharist. You could feel that,” says Gregory. “You were with 50,000 or 60,000 other people, and it was bizarre in the sense that you could feel so close to them.”

Along with the lay faithful, 200 bishops and cardinals, nearly 1,200 priests, 1,200 religious sisters and brothers, and 630 deacons participated.

“It was like a little Rome, seeing all these cardinals, and bishops, and priests, and religious, and sisters and nuns walking around,” says Wolfe.

The congress also brought together a who’s who of Catholic theologians and speakers such as Father Mike Schmitz, known for his podcasts The Bible in a Year and The Catechism in a Year; Jonathan Roumie, the actor who plays Jesus in the series The Chosen; Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart; Bishop Robert Barron from Word on Fire Catholic Ministries; Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who was Pope Francis’ special envoy to the congress; and many others, all sharing their love for the Eucharist.

“The presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is a gift and the fulfillment of His mission. This is my body for you, my blood for you. Always for you, for all, never for me,” shared Cardinal Tagle, archbishop of Manila. “In Jesus, mission and gift of self meet. The Eucharist is a privileged moment to experience Jesus’ mission as a gift of Himself.”

“The Eucharist for me is healing. The Eucharist for me is peace. The Eucharist for me is my grounding. The Eucharist for me is His heart within me,” Roumie told those gathered.

Each of the five days was intended to guide participants towards a life-changing encounter with Jesus, first by helping them to recognize the gift of God’s love, then by helping them to experience healing through the Eucharist, continuing with a call to discipleship, and finally sending them forth on mission.

“Your Christianity is not for you. Christianity is not a self-help program, something designed just to make us feel better about ourselves. Your Christianity is for the world,” said Bishop Barron. “The Eucharist is not for us as a little private possession. It’s meant to conform us to Christ, who gives His body, blood, soul, and divinity for the world.”

Participants from Maine say they found the messages invigorating and inspiring.
“I feel renewed. My devotion to the Eucharist has increased, and my love of the Lord and the Eucharist has increased as well,” says Guerrette, who is a team member for FIERCE, a ministry devoted to upholding the dignity of female athletes. “We had so many beautiful speakers talking about encounter, talking about conviction, asking us to question ourselves. What is holding me back from this total love of Christ or giving myself totally to Him? Whether it is unforgiveness or anxiety or things that bother us in our lives, there are certain things that block that freedom of total surrender to the Lord, and the week was really good to introspectively look at the heart, to go to Mass, go to confession, and receive those graces, and to better love Him, to take that journey from the head to the heart.”

“Love was, of course, the overriding element of the congress, as it is of our faith. All around me, I saw people like me: flawed, imperfect sinners burning with love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and longing to know and share His love more intimately,” says Russell “Spike” Brimmer, director of evangelization and faith formation for the Maine Knights of Columbus and the adoration chapel coordinator at St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Bangor. “One of the things that I got out of this experience was that all these people, 60,000 people, want to be better disciples of Jesus, and this helped us to an understanding of that need and also, a little bit here and there, of how concretely to do that.”

“It gave me concrete ways to think and pray more about the Eucharist and why I go and receive every day,” says Wolfe. “It’s making sure that it just doesn’t become a routine where I don’t have an authentic encounter.”

Along with the many presentations, the Maine participants pointed to the eucharistic processions as being particularly poignant.

“They would process in during the evening with the Eucharist, and we would have 20 or 30 minutes of adoration. And when they would process out, you would just feel warmth. You would feel the heat of it. It was like, wow. It was amazing and just very calming. The Light of Christ was definitely there,” says Nelson.

On the final night, a eucharistic procession was held through downtown Indianapolis, leading from Lucas Oil Stadium, the primary venue for the congress, to the Indiana War Memorial.

“Thousands of people were lining the streets, and all the clergy went through, and it took forever because there were so many. It was so cool,” says Nelson.

“That procession was more than two hours long. We stayed for two hours and still didn’t get to the end of the line. It was truly amazing,” says Wolfe.

“When the procession passed, they invited you to join in, so we all made our way to the park,” says Gregory. “You had this whole park full of Catholics, so you’re evangelizing. Lucas Oil Stadium was beautiful, but this was doing what we’re called to do: share Christ.”

And that is what the speakers at the conference challenged the participants to do upon returning home.

“Your job — bring the lumen to the gentes. Bring the light of Christ out into the secular world,” said Bishop Barron. “This great revival will have been a failure if we don’t change our society.”

The Mainers who attended say they are ready to try to do their part.

“One of the things that they talked about was walking with someone, so even if you just share it with one person, that is twice as many people, and then that person shares it with another person, that type of thing,” says Nelson. “It was also that if you’re not active in your church, get more active and do those good things. And I think my husband and I will probably end up participating more in our local parish.”

“It gives you a lot to think about,” says Wolfe. “I think in the weeks and months to come, God will show me how, in my own particular job and in my own faith life, what this all means because it was so overwhelming.”

“For me, the most critical thing is where do I go from here? How do I use this experience?” says Brimmer. “Life cannot and will not be the same now that I have experienced the National Eucharistic Congress. I returned home with a renewed vigor to be the love of Jesus in my church and the larger community in which I live.”

Gregory says he hopes that those who attended will consider sharing their experiences in regional gatherings.

“The next step we want to do is ‘Gather, Known, Sent,’” he says. “We’re going to try to model it on the part of the Emmaus story that we don’t focus on so much. After their eyes were open, what did the two men do? They went running back to the apostles to share.”

Plans are also underway for another National Eucharistic Congress in 2033, a year that will mark the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s death and resurrection. And another eucharistic pilgrimage, from Indianapolis to Los Angeles, is set for spring 2025.