Parishes take next missionary steps amid post-Eucharistic congress ‘spiritual surge’

By Kimberly Heatherington, OSV News
09/01/2024

         (OSV News) — The crowds — 60,000 Catholics, including 900 women religious, over 1,200 priests, hundreds of seminarians and deacons, and 200 bishops — have dispersed from Indianapolis.

         The impact sessions are over; the speeches delivered.

         The Masses, Holy Hours and the largest Eucharistic procession in America in almost 50 years, are all concluded for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress.

         Organizers hailed the July 17-21 event — as well as the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage that took four routes, 60 days, and 6,500 miles to converge on it — as a "historic outpouring of grace" for the three-year (2022-2025) National Eucharistic Revival movement across the U.S. church.

         How does the church channel the exhilarating spiritual momentum of the congress and pilgrimage into a concrete and country-wide Eucharistic revival, especially in its Year of Mission?

         "The focus this year is going to be on the Walk with One campaign," said Kris Frank, chief missions officer for the National Eucharistic Congress, Inc., "where we're going to encourage all of those who have partaken of the revival, the pilgrimage, and the congress to now take a step in faith, and share that love of Jesus found in the Eucharist with others."

         Evangelization, Frank told OSV News, is not a spectator sport.

         "We've all been called into this missionary life," Frank confirmed. "So what's happening now is that we're entering into the third year of a three-year initiative. Some people have been journeying with us for two years, and they're ready for this moment. Other people are just coming in now, and they want to be sent on mission."

         The key to being prepared for that mission, Frank explained, has some essential components.

         "The four pillars that are really going to kind of help us remain tethered in our own personal relationship with Christ and this call to Eucharistic mission, is going to be Eucharistic encounter — making sure we have encountered the Lord through the Blessed Sacrament. Next," Frank continued, "Eucharistic identity — the understanding that it's not just what we do, but it's who God has called us to be, as sons and daughters, and then understanding that identity leads to mission."

         "That will lead us to Eucharist life — how does this permeate the entirety of our livelihood, not just what we do on Sundays, or when we go to evangelize, but how does this affect the way we talk to our friends, and love our family, and interact with strangers on the street? And then," added Frank, "we get to Eucharistic mission — which is sharing this Eucharistic love of our Lord with others around us."

         "The church exists to evangelize," stressed Frank. "Which means that, yes, the church exists for those in the pews, but also for those outside of the pews. We have no problem sharing our favorite movies; we have no problem sharing our new favorite song — but how much more so should we be driven to share our Lord and Savior with those around us?"

         Still, Frank admits this may seem daunting to those unaccustomed to openly discussing their faith.

         "We'll be continuing to lead trainings and resources to help people get over some of those feelings and insecurities," he said, "while simultaneously giving them the tools they need to go and share the Gospel with confidence."

         That, noted Frank, will take place one by one; person by person.

         "If those 60,000 people who just joined us at the Congress — or the hundreds of thousands who have partaken of the Revival over these last couple of years — can all just find one more person to share their faith with, and then that person continues to grow, and then shares their faith with one more person, the growth becomes exceptional very quickly."

         In the Diocese of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Bishop David J. Walkowiak has already witnessed a post-congress spiritual surge.

         "Our pilgrims returned from the National Eucharistic Congress with profound personal and spiritual growth," Bishop Walkowiak told OSV News. "I want to build upon the powerful moments they experienced at the Congress and further empower them to enter into the Year of Mission."

         Bishop Walkowiak is hosting a diocesan-wide follow-up event for National Eucharistic Congress pilgrims on Sept. 4. The evening involves a Holy Hour followed by a reception and discussion of how best to live out the Year of Mission in the diocese.

         The pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Grand Rapids, Father Mark Peacock, has already begun to take up the challenge with staff who attended the National Eucharistic Congress.

         "We did come back on fire," he said. "I don't know how else to say it — it was life-changing. It was absolutely life-changing."

         That change led to reflection and planning.

         We're going to be offering more adoration here at the parish. We have it on Monday; we're thinking of adding Thursday — and making it longer, at least 12 hours," said Father Peacock. "We're going to encourage schoolchildren — classrooms — to come over; our school does a really good job of that already."

         And Holy Spirit's staff will lead by example.

         "We're also going to encourage all of our staff that, sometime during the week, they need to come for an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament," Father Peacock added. "Those who went (to the Congress) are already doing that on their own."

         An Advent series is being considered, as well as small group gatherings in parishioner homes. In addition, a parish evangelization coordinator position has been created.

         "There's no doubt," said Father Peacock, that the experience of the National Eucharistic Congress called him and his flock to a deeper level of devotion. After 17 years of ministry, he reflected, "It was just a great shot in the heart, just to say, 'You can do more, man — you can do more.'"

         An eventually sold-out National Eucharistic Congress pilgrimage for the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, began with a simple conviction, said Father Phillip Dufour, the diocese's coordinator of Eucharistic Revival.

         "We didn't want this just to be a trip to the congress — we wanted it to be a true pilgrimage," he emphasized.

         Despite a lengthy bus trip and other challenges, pilgrimage participants — from as far away as California — radiated a spirit of joy, Father Dufour shared.

         He found himself overcome by the congress' Eucharistic procession, during which priests applauded religious sisters and the faithful thanked priests.

         "It was really a beautiful few days in Indianapolis, to kind of be on Mount Tabor, if you will, with the Lord," he said. "But then we have to come back down the mountain to reality, in a sense; and take the graces of the congress now to our diocese, to our parishes; and really bring the congress to life — to bring it back to all those who were not able to be there. And to continue the revival."

         Father Dufour has some thoughts about how that could happen — and will be sharing them with his diocese's next shepherd, since Providence's now-Archbishop Richard G. Henning has just been appointed by Pope Francis to lead the Boston Archdiocese.

         Father Dufour emphasized that effective revival will begin at the parish level, and must be led by pastors.

         "Someone who knows nothing about the Catholic faith — who has never heard of the Eucharist; who has never been to a Catholic Mass before — should be able to go to any church on Sunday," he said, "and see the way the Eucharist is handled, revered and worshipped, and be able to say, 'I don't know what that is, but there's something special about that.'"

         Nor, said Father Dufour, should the faithful feel that the Congress was somehow a separate occasion from the rest of their Eucharistic life.

         "The awe and the excitement that people had at going to the congress, they should bring that same awe, that same excitement, every single time they approach the altar," he said, "because it's the same Christ, present in the Eucharist, who comes to them so frequently."

         "We're not limited by the revival," Father Dufour declared. "It doesn't have to end next year. If there are things we want to continue, we can continue in the years to come."

         Kris Frank agrees.

         "What God started in Indy — or is doing in this revival — is just the beginning," explained Frank.

         "I think God's just getting started."

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