The East of the River Revival on Oct. 2 featured elements that any Catholic would be accustomed to, from praying the Our Father to priests blessing the laity with holy water, readings from the Old Testament and New Testament, and Confessions being heard by clerics.

And then there were the aspects that were less common, perhaps even unique to this 34-year annual fall three-night event, which took place this year at Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillcrest Heights, Maryland.

A dramatic reading from the Book of Daniel about King Nebuchadnezzar and his futile attempts to demand that all Babylonians worship his golden idol elicited applause from the congregation. Members of the congregation also processed to the front to make donations on the altar in a basket, while some also left slips of paper with prayer intentions in another basket, before the revival began.

Holy Family Church had a few hundred people in attendance for the first night of the three-night revival, on Oct. 2, the Feast of the Guardian Angels. Worshippers came from more than 10 parishes in the District of Columbia and Maryland to meditate on the themes “Hold On, Help Is on the Way,” and “Woke and Holding,” with members of each parish cheering during a roll call near the event’s beginning, joined by their pastors in attendance.

“We know that when the praises go up, the blessings go down,” said Josephite Father Anthony Bozeman, the revival’s preacher, who is the academic dean at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Northeast Washington, D.C., as well as the assistant vocations for his religious order. “God is still in the blessing business. I don’t know about you, but I’m greedy. I want all the blessings I can get.” He was joined at the Monday night session by five Josephite seminarians.

Father Bozeman challenged the congregation to boldly proclaim their Catholic faith to others outside of church, just as they “zealously” cheered when their parish names were called out. Even if a family member is “slinging,” which is slang for drug dealing, one should invite them to church, he said, the ideal of reaching out to those on the margins of society, a refrain of Pope Francis’s pontificate.

“We’ve got to be intentional, raise the kids in church,” he said of so many Black Catholics, who help raise family members who are not their children, helping to keep communities cohesive when parents are unable to do so. Although the St. Luke Liturgical Dance troupe performed, a three-member group of young women, a majority of attendees that evening seemed likely to be grandparents who have an important influence in the direction of younger generations.

All too often, according to Father Bozeman, Catholic leave a parish because they don’t like the pastor. They see family members join other Christian faiths or even convert to Islam.

“If we’re wise enough, like Peter, we cry out to Jesus,” he said, reflecting on the Gospel of St. Matthew reading, when Peter tried to follow Jesus in treading on water. “He may not come when we want Him, but He comes when we need Him.”

For more than 400 years, according to Father Bozeman, African Americans have been turning difficulties in this country into positives in their lives. His hour-long talk was punctuated by call-and-response refrains with the congregation.

“If the Catholic Church doesn’t have Black Catholics, then it’s not catholic,” he said.

“The Church is going through a transition, with people coming back, post-pandemic,” Bill Alston, an Our Lady of Perpetual Help parishioner, told the Catholic Standard. A member of the Knights of St. John, he has been coming to the revival for 27 years with his wife, who serves on the revival committee. He is familiar with Father Bozeman from the latter’s service as pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish.

“You can’t give it over to Him and then take it back,” Alston said of Father Bozeman’s theme about people seeking help from God for their difficulties.

With sweat on his brow, the priest punctuated the final part of his revival homily by running from the back of the church to the front, while leading the congregation in a hymn.

“He’s reminding us to keep our minds toward Jesus,” said Angela V. Harris, who serves as a lector at Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Parish. She became familiar with Father Bozeman from previously living in Philadelphia, his native city, where he served earlier in his priesthood.