Local Catholics attending this week’s National Eucharistic Congress say the event is an opportunity to gather with others who share their faith in the True Presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament and to inspire a greater love for and devotion to the Eucharist.
“The Eucharist Congress is important because it is a time to come together and acknowledge Jesus’s sacrificial offering on the cross for our salvation, to rejoice in His resurrection and in His presence with us,” said Sister Romana Uzodimma, a member of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus who is the senior program manager for Catholic Charities Health Care Network in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
The July 17-21 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis is the culmination of a three-year National Eucharistic Revival initiated by the U.S. Catholic bishops in 2022 to inspire greater understanding of and love for Jesus in the Eucharist. The congress has about 50,000 registered participants who will, as Sister Romana said, “celebrate the special gift that our Lord Jesus gave to His Church in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.”
“It (the Congress) is one of the ways that we proclaim and propagate our faith in the real presence of God in the Holy Eucharist,” she said. Sister Romana is among several members of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington who traveled to Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress.
“It (the congress) is a moment of grace for the people of God that provides us an opportunity to proclaim the goodness and faithfulness of God whose is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament,” she said. She called the Congress “a time of renewal of our faith” and said it was her hope that the event would “create awareness and to affirm our belief in the presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.”
That sentiment was shared by Magistrate Paul Bauer Eason, who serves on the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County and is a member of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council.
“Although the event is billed as a ‘conference,’ I look at it more as a ‘revival’ – a chance to revive interest in the true presence of our Lord in the Eucharist and to foster a greater appreciation of the sacrament,” he said.
Each day, the National Eucharistic Congress has a different theme and will include English- and Spanish-language catechesis, “breakout sessions,” Mass in both the Latin and Byzantine Rites, Confession, Adoration, exhibits and entertainment.
“I’m really looking forward to meeting and breaking bread with my fellow conferees and (to) have an opportunity to hear some of the fantastic speakers that they have lined up,” Eason said, “I’ve never been to a gathering this large, but I am really excited because I think that it’s truly going to be momentous event.”
Revival sessions and other congress events will be livestreamed at the National Eucharistic Congress’s website, www.eucharisticcongress.org, and broadcasted live by the Eternal Word Television Network and Relevant Radio.
Washington Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar will be part of a panel leading a breakout session talk on July 19. He and his co-presenters will discuss “Building Bridges for Our Shared Mission: Connecting Parishes with Movements and New Communities.”
Cardinal Wilton Gregory will also participate in the National Eucharistic Congress. He will celebrate and serve as homilist at a Mass at 8:30 a.m. on Friday July 19, and he will concelebrate the closing Mass at 10 a.m. on Sunday July 21 that will have as its main celebrant Cardinal Luis Tagle, the pro-prefect of the Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Evangelization and papal envoy to the National Congress.
“Being a member of the Archdiocese of Washington Pastoral Council, it’s an honor to witness our Cardinal Gregory celebrate Mass … for the thousands of people joining the Eucharistic Congress,” said attendee Dr. Sharon Lewis, a member of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Parish in Washington who from 2022 to 2023 served as the interim director of health for the District of Columbia.
Calling her participation in the Congress a “spiritual journey,” she said, “I look forward to meeting participants and learning additional methods they found effective in communicating that the Eucharist is the center of life.”
She said that at her parish, “our teachings have focused on becoming whole in the likeness of our Lord, as we receive the Eucharist,” and parishioners there are committed to “ongoing teachings to enhance our knowledge of the living Christ during Mass as we partake in the Eucharist.”
Dr. Lewis said the congress provides the opportunity of “joining people with the common acceptance of the Eucharist as the living God for which we receive healing and growth in our faith.”
This Eucharistic Congress is the 10th such national congress held in the United States. An International Eucharistic Congress was held in Philadelphia in 1976, but the last National Eucharistic Congress was held in 1941 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“This is the first National Eucharistic Congress in 83 years … this is a time for all people to join together as a unified Christian community and evangelize the Word of a living God,” Dr. Lewis said. “Each day there is news of unrest in the world. We can overcome the negativity with prayer and devotion to God.”
While local Catholic have traveled this week to Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress, local observances of the event began about six weeks ago, when more than 1,200 local faithful took to the streets of Washington, D.C., on June 8 to celebrate the arrival of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington with prayers, songs and a procession.
The arrival in Washington was among the many stops made by those participating in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s Eastern Route – one of four national Eucharistic pilgrimages that were held prior to National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. Other national Eucharistic pilgrimages included a Western Route, a Northern Route and a Southern Route.
The four routes of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage converged in Indianapolis on July 16, the day prior to the start of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress.
Pope Francis has granted participants in the National Eucharistic Congress the opportunity to receive a plenary indulgence. Catholics who “due to reasonable circumstances and with pious intention” cannot be physically at the congress may also receive the indulgence if they have participated in Mass and received the blessing through media communications.
To receive the plenary indulgence, an individual must fulfill the following conditions: Sacramental Confession, Holy Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father.
“It is an occasion for us to pray and watch with Jesus, the Lord of the universe and plead for His presence and intervention in our human endeavors and human emptiness,” said Sister Romana. “It is my hope that this 10th National Eucharistic Congress will usher into our lives, our families, our nation and all the countries of the world an era of peace, joy, and betterment of humanity.”
