National Congress sends forth Catholics in Indiana, Houston to ignite a new Pentecost as Eucharistic

Gathered with Daniel Cardinal DiNardo and Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, Galveston-Houston pilgrims meet for a group photo following a session at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis during the National Eucharistic Congress in July. Archdiocesan officials estimate some 400-500 pilgrims attended from Galveston-Houston, joining the 60,000 from around the world.  (Photos by James Ramos/Herald)INDIANAPOLIS (OSV News) — As five days of the National Eucharistic Congress concluded with one final revival and a beautiful solemn Mass in Lucas Oil Stadium — Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, board chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc., stood in Lucas Oil Stadium.

“I have a question for you,” he told the crowd. “This is the 10th National Eucharistic Congress — do you think we should do an 11th one?”

Some 60,000 congress participants — representing 50 U.S. states, 17 countries, and various Eastern and Western churches and speaking over 40 languages — cheered wildly in the stadium.

They also again rose to their feet to give the U.S. Catholic bishops an enthusiastic standing ovation for making possible the five-day congress with its impact sessions, breakout sessions, special events, revival nights with Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction and beautifully celebrated reverent Masses.
The event reflected the diversity of a Church all united in the same Eucharistic Lord and eager to use their gifts for a new Pentecost in the Church.

Houston perpetual pilgrims reunite in Indiana

The first day of the July 17 to 21 congress began with an evening revival as the 30 perpetual pilgrims, who had walked the four National Eucharistic Pilgrimage routes, took their final official steps of their eight-week journey into the stadium carrying icons of each route’s respective patron saints that were put around the altar where the Blessed Sacrament was placed.

Lifting heavenward an icon of St. Juan Diego meeting Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mackenzie Warrens walked alongside fellow Houstonian Camille Anigbogu during an opening procession of the four National Eucharistic Pilgrimage routes to start the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. They also reunited with Chima Adiole, another Houstonian, who walked in the western Serra route.

“How will we know that we are experiencing Eucharistic revival?” Christophe Cardinal Pierre, the papal nuncio to the U.S., asked in his keynote speech July 17, encouraging everyone to surrender their hearts to the Lord over the next few days. “When we are truly revived by the Eucharist,” he said, “then our encounter with Christ’s real presence in the Sacrament opens us to an encounter with Him in the rest of our life” and then “spills over in our daily life, a life of relating to others, our way of seeing others.”

Daily Liturgies, prayers

Every day of the congress began with most attendees joining in beautifully and reverently celebrated Eucharistic Liturgies in the stadium and convention center. Additional morning and evening Masses were held at nearby sites in different languages, such as Spanish, Vietnamese and Tagalog, or in different forms, such as the Byzantine rite or the older usage of the Roman rite.

Bishop Dell’Oro concelebrated a July 18 Mass presided by Bishop Bohdan Danylo of the Ukrainian Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma, Ohio, with Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy.

Deacon Eddy Valbuena from Prince of Peace Parish in Houston served as the deacon of the Word for a July 19 Spanish Mass at the Indiana Convention Center celebrated by Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia.

Cardinal DiNardo and Bishop Dell’Oro also concelebrated a July 20 Holy Qurbana, the Syro-Malabar form of the Eucharistic Liturgy, prayed in English, which was presided by Bishop Mar Joy Allapat of St. Thomas Eparchy of Chicago with Archbishop Gudziak as homilist.

Exhibits, relics galore

Three days of the congress, July 18 to 20, were split between seven morning impact sessions and nearly 20 afternoon breakout sessions on a variety of topics meant to form, equip and inspire people, including clergy, to live more deeply their faith in light of Jesus making Himself truly present in the Eucharist — and how to practically bring what they have learned into their parishes, ministries, groups and families.

The exhibit halls in the Indiana Convention Center were packed throughout the congress, as long lines formed for exhibits such as the Shroud of Turin or Eucharistic miracles. Religious sisters provided a kind of spiritual air traffic control that guided people to the lengthy confession lines. A special reliquary chapel hosted a variety of saint relics of the patrons of the National Eucharistic Revival, Congress, and Pilgrimage on display for veneration.

The convention center was also a place where the spontaneity of joy could be seen and felt. Young people marched through chanting their love for Jesus, while further on, a group of Catholic women dressed in traditional apparel from Cameroon sang and danced their love for Jesus and Mary to the delight of the people who gathered around them.
Congress-goers had the opportunity to attend off-site events, such as The Catholic Project’s panel discussion on July 19, which explored the challenges of navigating the dating landscape as Catholics.

Tens of thousands of congress-goers at the revivals — and the Liturgies as well — eagerly joined their voices in singing the beautiful hymns and chants, both traditional and contemporary, in English, Spanish, Latin and other languages. The congress saw the musicianship of Dave and Lauren Moore, Sarah Kroger and Matt Maher, as well as the talents of the men’s ensemble Floriani and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

‘We long for’ the Eucharist

Among the crowds was Brady Lacour, a young parishioner at Mary Queen Parish in Friendswood.

“The experience I’ve had here at the National Eucharistic Congress has been amazing,” he said.

Lacour said he enjoyed encountering thousands of other Catholics and men and women religious who spoke truths about the Eucharist.

“The Eucharist nourishes us,” he said, “and it can give us what we long for and hunger for and thirst for — Jesus Christ.”

The nightly revival sessions created a sensory experience of awe as tens of thousands prayed in silent contemplation before the Eucharist on the altar — illuminated in the dark stadium by spotlights. Adoring Jesus in the stadium, concluding with Benediction, was the pinnacle movement of each evening.

Keynote speakers and testimonies helped keep people’s eyes fixed on Jesus’ personal love for them and His desire to be close to them.

One such nightly revival, focused on healing, indicated the problem with Catholic belief in the Eucharist — was more about the heart than the head, and needed Catholics to repent of their indifference to Jesus.

Congress organizers also made intentional efforts to be inclusive of families and those with disabilities, particularly those with sensory disorders, so they could also experience the congress and participate fully in the experience.

A flow of pilgrims at prayer

Throughout the congress, the historic and stately St. John’s Catholic Church across from the Indiana Convention Center’s main entrance fulfilled its role as a spiritual hub.

A steady flow of pilgrims came and went from the main church during 24-hour Eucharistic Adoration that continued throughout the entire Congress. It had times for silence as well as times geared toward families, where children and faithful were invited to get close to the Eucharist, put a flower in a vase near the monstrance, and just adore as beautiful, simple melodies lifted up the packed church in prayer.

Standing outside of St. John’s close to midnight, Father Victor Perez of St. Joseph Parish and St. Stephen Parish in Houston, who is a Eucharistic preacher alongside Father Miguel Solorzano of St. Bartholomew Parish in Katy, said he was praying for everyone in the Archdiocese who could not attend the congress.
He said he was inspired by the diversity of those in intense devotion and prayer to the Eucharist, and said that that the Eucharistic Congress is not a finish line, but a starting point to bring revival to everyone.

Father Perez was among the more than 1,170 priests who attended the congress. Also present were more than 1,200 religious sisters and brothers, 630 deacons, 610 seminarians and 200 bishops who participated in the congress, according to congress organizers. Five seminarians from St. Mary’s Seminary also attended.

Deacon Charles and Pamela Pitman, who attend St. Hyacinth Parish in Deer Park, said they felt deeply moved by the presence of the Lord and the Holy Spirit at each Mass.

“To see everyone from all across our country gather together to acknowledge and to worship the Lord and the Eucharist was overwhelming,” Deacon Pitman said.

Pamela Pitman said hearing the unity of the Church in song and in silent reverence, especially in a football stadium, “was amazing.”

Among the crowds was newly ordained Father David Ramirez, parochial vicar at Prince of Peace Parish in Houston.

“I was so excited to come together with people from around the United States to be able to come together around the Lord in the Holy Eucharist in love, fire and zeal.”

‘A bit of heaven’ for the church

Joining Father Ramirez was Monsignor James Anderson, pastor of Queen of Peace Parish in La Marque, who also concelebrated Masses and heard confessions alongside several priests from Galveston-Houston.

“The Congress was a moment in which the Catholic Church was truly present,” Monsignor Anderson said. “This was a a great moment for the Church in the United States of America. It marks a true revival for love for the Eucharist and the beauty of our Catholic faith. Walking the halls, the different morning and evening sessions, all led to an increased love for the Eucharist and how Eucharist is not just adoring, but also going forth in mission for the same Christ that we adore.”

Tens of thousands flood Indianapolis streets

The highlight came July 20 as tens of thousands of Catholics followed behind the truck-pulled, flower-rimmed float carrying the Blessed Sacrament accompanied by Bishop Cozzens and Indianapolis Archbishop Charles C. Thompson.

They walked at least a mile from the convention center through downtown Indianapolis to the Indiana War Memorial Plaza for what Bishop Cozzens said “might be the largest Eucharistic procession in the country in decades.”

The float was preceded by hundreds of seminarians, religious sisters and brothers, deacons, an estimated 1,000 priests and more than 100 bishops and cardinals — including Cardinal Pierre and Luis Cardinal Tagle, Pope Francis’ special envoy to the congress.

At the very front were children, dressed in white dresses and suits, who had recently received their first Communion. They carried baskets of rose petals, spreading them on the ground ahead of the Eucharist.

Immediately following the Eucharistic float, leading music, were a few of the “perpetual pilgrims” who had recently finished the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.

The float traveled central Indianapolis corridors, passing storefronts, office buildings and restaurants, and curving around the Monument Circle roundabout. When it arrived at the iconic Indiana World War Memorial Plaza, Bishop Thompson and Bishop Cozzens disembarked.

Bishop Cozzens processed with the monstrance, followed by Bishop Thompson, toward a stage at the base of the memorial, where musicians were singing the Divine Mercy Chaplet. When they reached the stage and its temporary altar, they secured the monstrance in its base for Adoration and knelt before Jesus in the Eucharist under a cloudless sky.

As pilgrims, including many from Galveston-Houston bearing banners, flags and rosaries, made their way into the park, many knelt on the grass or the sidewalks. With the hot July sun beating down on the pavement, people knelt, wept or raised their arms, or simply sat and contemplated the Blessed Sacrament.