Nearly 60,000 pilgrims attend the 10th National Eucharistic Congress

INDIANAPOLIS — “He’s here.”

As those words flashed across the jumbotron of a darkened Lucas Oil Stadium on July 17, tens of thousands of Catholics jumped to their feet and cheered. A hush fell over the stadium as a spotlight followed Crookston, Minn. Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens as he carried the Eucharist in a monstrance.

During the next four days, Catholics often looked in adoration at the Eucharist, asking themselves the question posed on the first evening: “What is revival?”

The 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis drew nearly 60,000 Catholics from July 17-21.

The first Eucharistic Congress in the United States was held in 1895 and the most recent was in 1941, just before the country entered World War II.

Nearly 200 diocesan pilgrims attended this year’s conference, including a group of young adults and youth pilgrims from the diocesan Office for Youth, Campus and Young Adults.

“I heard about it on social media and my staff and I immediately decided we were going to go,” said Father Keith M. O’Hare, pastor of St. Louis Church in Alexandria, who brought a group of 18 parishioners.

Each day of the convention had a different Eucharistic theme. Pilgrims had the opportunity for daily Mass, confession, adoration, morning impact sessions, and afternoon talks. During breaks between programs, pilgrims crowded into the Indiana Convention Center’s main exhibit hall to browse merchandise from dozens of small Catholic businesses. In the evening, they gathered in the stadium for adoration and to listen to keynote speakers give talks related to the Eucharistic theme of the day.

“They have profound prayer experiences,” Father O’Hare said of his parishioners. “And the conversations — of course the content is excellent, but it’s the passion with that content. We can’t really simulate that just by listening to it on a podcast.”

Keynote speaker Father Mike Schmitz, the charismatic priest behind the podcast “Bible in a Year,” challenged pilgrims on the second day of the conference to eradicate any indifference toward the Real Presence in the Eucharist.

“If this is going to be a revival, it will be a real revival. This is the reality: in the history of Christianity, you can never have a revival without repentance,” he said.

Other speakers included Winona-Rochester, Minn. Bishop Robert E. Barron; Sister of the Holy Family of Nazareth Josephine Garrett; actor Jonathan Roumie of “The Chosen”; and Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart. A common theme emerged: The path to national Eucharistic revival comes through personal revival and repentance.

“It feels like your whole heart opens up,” said Virginia’s Benedictine Sister Kathleen Persson.

Each diocesan pilgrim experienced a different calling to attend the convention. For Lynda Rozell, a parishioner at St. Leo the Great Church in Fairfax, it came last year. “I did a Eucharistic procession in Portland, Maine, when I was volunteering at Lake Sebago State Park as a campground host,” she said. “So I started looking up things about revival and thought, this is something we really need as a church. How can I contribute to it in some way?”

Rozell published a book about the Eucharist this year, “Return to Me: Visits to the Tabernacle.” She said she feels called to spread Eucharistic love not only through her writing but also through ordinary interactions with others. “When God puts people in my path that I feel like He wants me to talk to, I talk to them,” she said.

More than 1,000 religious sisters and brothers attended the convention, including sisters from diocesan convents such as Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist Marie Benedict Elliott and Daughter of Saint Paul Gioan Linh. Their joyful witness inspired many, including 16-year-old Faustina Libera, a parishioner at St. John the Evangelist Church in Warrenton. Libera said interacting with religious sisters at the convention helped her discern her vocation. “I asked Jesus to help me and talk to certain orders and also to help me with my vocation,” she said.

The conference also served as a spiritual reset for pastoral leaders in the diocese. Rossnat Rodriguez, a pro-life and youth ministry leader at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Falls Church, has worked in pastoral ministry for nearly 20 years. “There are times when you have to sit back and feed yourself,” she said. “This is a time for us to re-envision ourselves and feed our souls.”

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge met with diocesan pilgrims after morning Masses on July 18 and 19. He encouraged the pilgrims to let the convention change their hearts.

“Everyone keeps talking about the gratitude for this great experience that the Church has given them. Well, the way we show our gratitude is by taking everything that has been given to us and sharing it with others,” he said. “So that means that our gratitude for this experience goes back and speaks with joy about our faith, living it and proclaiming it courageously, even when it is not easy. But we are now strengthened to do that.”

Pilgrims showed their zeal with a Eucharistic procession through the streets of Indianapolis on July 20. Matthew Nicholson, a parishioner at Holy Trinity Church in Gainesville, recalls how the procession gave him a chance to share the gospel with people curious about the gathering.

Deacon Tom Grodek of Holy Spirit Church in Annandale said he has found new inspiration for his ministry. “I actually had a spiritual goal, and my spiritual goal was to get closer to Jesus in three ways: to believe more, to love more and to enjoy Jesus Christ more in the Eucharist,” he said. “I’m definitely going to incorporate that into sermons and homilies, daily homilies and the Sunday homily that’s next week.”

Pilgrims streamed into the upper levels of the stadium for the closing Mass on July 21, celebrated by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelization. More than 1,600 priests and 1,200 religious sisters and brothers gathered among the crowd of 60,000.

After the mass, Bishop Cozzens closed the congress with a question. “This is the 10th Eucharistic Congress — do we need another one?”

The deafening applause and the deafening cheers were enough.