When the National Eucharistic Congress had reached its conclusion and Maria Alvarez was sitting at Indianapolis airport reflecting, she was filled with tears and searching for words to describe her experience.
“I had a piece of heaven,” said Alvarez, a youth minister at Holy Spirit parish in Hemet. “It felt like a community in love with Jesus in the Eucharist. I didn’t want it to end.”
She was one of the approximately 140 Catholics from the Diocese of San Bernardino who attended the Congress, the first of its kind in 83 years. Bishop Alberto Rojas led a delegation of 13 people from the Diocesan Pastoral Center on the journey to Indianapolis. He said he was awed by the size of the gathering, estimated at more than 50,000 people, and the witness of the participants and presenters.
“It was a really powerful presentation of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist in many different ways,” Bishop Rojas said. “I hope everyone is on fire with the presence of God in their lives.”
Others in the diocesan delegation were similarly awestruck.
“This was the most amazing witness of Catholic unity and Eucharistic revival I have ever seen or experienced within the Catholic Church,” said Father Hau Vu, Director of Vocations for the Diocese. “As a priest, what brings me the greatest joy within my ministry is when a soul comes to God to praise, worship, and adore Him. And this is exactly what happened at the Congress, but for more than 50,000 souls.”
The Congress was the capstone of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative of the U.S. Bishops designed to refocus the faithful in the United States on the primacy of the Eucharist in Catholic life. It offered numerous opportunities for Eucharistic adoration and Mass as well as exhibits, vendors, music, talks, and breakout sessions geared toward Catholics of all walks of life.
‘Jesus, I trust in you’
Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who led U.S. bishops’ initiative of Eucharistic Revival, called the congress “a moment of unity” for the Church in the United States. Magdalena Lopez, one of the 13 diocesan delegates, said she felt that connection right away and she knew why.
“The Holy Eucharist is our identity. It is how we are together in faith as a community,” said Lopez, who works in the Catechetical Ministry of the diocese as consultant for the High Desert, Low Desert and San Bernardino Vicariates. “You met people from so many places, and everyone was in the same spirit.”
After attendees spent the first afternoon of the event in spiraling lines to get registered and credentialed, they gathered in Lucas Oil Stadium for a stirring opening procession and Revival session. First to arrive were the Perpetual Pilgrims — four groups of young men and women who had carried the Eucharist a collective 6,500 miles through cities and over mountains and plains. Each group of pilgrims approached the stage to thunderous cheers, placing an image that corresponded to each route’s patron saint.
Then it was time for the true star of the show to appear.
The crowd fell silent as the Eucharist, contained in a four-foot high monstrance specially blessed by Pope Francis in 2023, was processed by Bishop Cozzens. As he held up the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance in center field of Lucas Oil Stadium, the crowd prayed together “Jesus, I trust in you.”
The following day saw the beginning the of the morning Impact Sessions and afternoon Breakout Sessions, which consisted of talks and workshops organized with various themes and intended audiences that attendees were able to select. Topics ranged from the Theology of the Eucharist to Catholic manhood to political polarization to the Eucharist as Source and Summit of Evangelization to Sex, Gender and a Sacramental Worldview, among many others. The Revival Sessions continued each evening, featuring keynote talks and praise and worship going into the 10 p.m. hour. They were facilitated by three emcees Montse Alvarado, Father Josh Johnson and Sister Miriam James Heidland.
The lineup of speakers included many high-profile bishops, clergy and religious, including Bishop Robert Barron, Cardinal Blasé Cupich, well known podcasting priest Father Mike Schmitz, and Sister Alicia Torres. Popular lay Catholic speakers and writers like Gloria Purvis, Chris Stefanick and Dr. Scott Hahn were also featured. The Universal Church was represented by Papal Nuncio to the United States Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who spoke at the opening Revival Session, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, representing the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, who was the chief celebrant at the Closing Mass.
A ‘Commercial’ for Vocations
A highly visible sign of the Catholic identity of the five-day gathering was the presence of religious sisters in habits, priests in Roman collars, and seminarians with shirts displaying their seminary logos. Many attendees said the thousands of clergy and religious walking the streets and convention halls, many of them youthful and joyful, made them enthusiastic about those vocations. Sister Chilee Okoko, DMMM, one of the 13 diocesan delegates, also noted that religious women like Sr. Miriam, and religious community foundresses Mother Adela Galindo and Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, were given prominent roles in the Congress.
“The National Eucharistic Congress was a wonderful opportunity to highlight and promote vocations,” said Sr. Chilee, the Director of the Diocesan Department of Life, Dignity and Justice. “The religious were really projected.”
The clergy and religious certainly felt the love of the pilgrims in Indianapolis, Sr. Chilee confirmed. “The appreciation of the people for your vocation, that they were being edified by your presence, it was a beautiful gift,” she said.
Fr. Vu said he thinks the visible witness of the clergy and religious women will impact vocations.
“I dare to say that [National Eucharistic Congress) impacted the Church in ways both seen and not yet seen, by calling and awakening men and women everywhere to discern the vocation of priesthood and religious life,” he said.
For Anthony Gutierrez, one of five diocesan seminarians who attended the Congress, the event helped validate his journey to become a priest, adding that it should be inspiring to all vocations in Church life.
“I pray and hope this event caused a much-needed ripple effect of conversion for our country,” he said. “When hearts are converted, there’s less chaos in the world and it changes the world for the better.”
The Eucharistic Lord in the poor
As pilgrims navigated the downtown streets of Indianapolis, they encountered many homeless men and women. One local young adult, Braedon Eckert, stood outside the Convention Center where the Congress took place holding signs to call attention to the poor who were lying on the streets amid the ebullient attendees. He caught the attention of Diocesan Vice Chancellor John Andrews, one of the 13 delegates, who captured and posted to social media a short video message from Eckert, “If we want Eucharistic Revival, we have to start by bringing Christ to the poor,” proclaimed the Franciscan University of Steubenville student.
The organizers of the Congress gave space in the Exhibit Hall to the organization Million Meal Movement so that attendees could help assemble food packages for distribution to the needy in the greater Indianapolis area. Andrews and others from the diocesan delegation spent time on the assembly line putting together packages of instant macaroni and cheese.
“I enjoyed working alongside faithful Catholics from different parts of the country who, even as they attended this high-profile event, did not forget their brothers and sisters in need,” Andrews wrote in a blog post on July 19.
Where do we ‘Go’ from here?
On the final day of the Congress conversations and presentations turned to how pilgrims must take the deeply felt experience of the event, and their renewed devotion to the Eucharistic Lord, and share it with all those back home.
“It’s not only the time to end it, it is the time to begin it,” implored Mother Galindo in her talk at the final Revival Session on July 21. “The fruits must be visible in order for people to believe.”
Moments earlier, Catholic speaker Stefanick had humorously reminded the crowd that “two-thirds of God’s name spells ‘Go.’ ”
Specifically referencing the Renewal Impact Sessions she attended, Alvarez said the Congress softened the hearts of many there who may have become weary or disillusioned in their ministry. “It’s like we were dead and now we’re alive,” she said.
Tony Pimentel, coordinator of Catechetical and Youth Ministries at St. Oscar Romero Parish in Eastvale, agreed. “Christ revealed in my heart various things that I need to change,” he said, before adding, “on a practical level, I feel extraordinarily called to talk about the Eucharist more, especially the importance of being in a state of grace before we receive the Eucharist.”
For diocesan delegate John Koss, Associate Director of the diocesan Office of Divine Worship, the Congress will help him be more mindful of choosing prayers and songs that reflect the centrality of Jesus in the Eucharist, “to prepare us in a way that allows the healing, the peace, the joy that is found in the Eucharist during our liturgies.”
Referencing the divisive rhetoric often heard in society and even the Church these days, St. Peter and St. Paul parishioner Tiffany Wulkopf said that because of her Congress experience, “Rather than try to prove someone wrong to get them to our side, I instead will strive to lead in love and be unapologetically Catholic in all my actions.”
Seminarian Gutierrez, Alvarez and other local pilgrims shared that because of the Congress’s focus on Eucharistic Adoration they plan to promote it more in their ministries and in their own faith practices. “I have a renewed hope for Perpetual Adoration in my parish,” said fellow St. Peter and St. Paul parishioner Nichole Rabe.
Echoing Wulkopf’s comment, Sister Solimar Ruiz, H.M.S.P., said she hopes the spirit of unity and shared belief that characterized the Congress will overcome current divisions.
“We are not a competing Church, we are the Church of God, and we celebrate everyone’s faith journey,” said Sr. Solimar, Director of Religious Education at St. John XXIII Parish in Fontana/Rialto. “Now we just need to put it into practice. Let’s get working Eucharistic Missionaries!”
In a final indication of the event’s seismic impact on the national Church, Bishop Cozzens announced at the end of the Closing Mass that another National Eucharistic Congress has been scheduled for 2033, the Year of Redemption, marking the 2,000-year anniversary of the Lord’s death and resurrection.
Catholic News Agency contributed to this report.