An event bringing together over 60,000 Catholics from all over the United States and beyond to adore Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and commit to going out as missionaries can only be described as transformational. Regnum Christi members of all vocations were there to be a part of this pivotal moment in the Church.
Before the Eucharistic Congress began, RC Indianapolis offered a warm and prayerful welcome to pilgrims with a Mass and lunch for several hundred RC members of all vocations at the Our Lady of the Apostles Family Center that set the tone for the next five days.
The Congress unfolded through five themes which gave structure to each day:
From the Four Corners
On the first evening of the Congress, pilgrims arrived at Lucas Oil Stadium from the four official pilgrimage routes of the National Eucharistic Revival and all corners of the United States and the world.
At the Regnum Christi booth, we encountered RC members and friends from Spain, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Brazil, all here to participate in this incredible moment in the Church.
The Congress opened with Adoration of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, during which tired pilgrims full of hopeful anticipation were encouraged to bring themselves fully before Our Lord, who knows them, who sees them, who loves them.
“May we as a church grow in our unity so we may be more fruitful in our mission.”
These are the words of Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, the first speaker to address the Congress in Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesday, July 17th. “When the Eucharist truly revives us, he opens us to an encounter with him in every moment of our life. It means meeting him in everything that happens in our life,” he emphasized.
Despite the long lines, with some pilgrims waiting multiple hours to check in to the Congress, day one also saw hundreds of people stop to meet Regnum Christi members of all vocations at Booth 1117, nailing dozens of prayer intentions to the Mission Cross at the center of the booth. At the end of the day, Fr. Jesus Salinas, LC, and Fr. Augustin de la Vega, LC, led a gathered group of lay members, Legionary priests, brothers, LC candidates, Consecrated Women, and our friends at Catholic World Mission in a prayer for the intentions entrusted to Our Lord on the cross that day.
“Just to be in a stadium filled with people cheering as loudly for the Blessed Sacrament as any sports fans do in a stadium like this is amazing. Tonight isn’t about learning or intellectually knowing our faith- it’s about experiencing the reality of Christ alive among us.” -Janet McLaughlin, lay member of Regnum Christi.
The Greatest Love Story
On the second day of the Congress, participants received a clear kerygmatic proclamation inviting them into an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
The day began in Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, with the Rosary led by Fr Rocky Hoffman, executive director of Relevant Radio, leading up to Mass celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan. More than 10 Legionary priests concelebrated the Mass for the 50,000+ attendees who filled the stadium.
Throughout the day, hundreds of people visited the Regnum Christi booth. All were invited to pray the Angelus together at lunchtime. The assembled group who came together to pray filled the 20′ wide booth, spilling into the corridor before the booth. The Mission Cross was filled to overflowing once again with the intentions entrusted to Regnum Christi; visitors spoke with Fr. Daniel Brandenburg, LC, about the Legionary vocation, with the Sacred Heart Apostolic School team about what the school offers, with Consecrated Women Elizabeth Stromberg, Carrie O’Connor, Laura Matthews, and Katie Tuttle about the Consecrated vocation. Elizabeth shared a conversation as she assisted a visitor in nailing her prayer intentions to the cross. “As I was nailing prayer intentions to our cross, someone asked me if I was a carpenter’s daughter, and I said, ‘No, I’m a Carpenter’s wife!'”
One visitor to the booth who works in Catholic media as a photographer approached with tears in his eyes, explaining that he had to come to say hello to Regnum Christi because “Br. Anthony Freeman, LC, is why I work in Catholic media today.” When asked if he knew Br. Anthony, he replied, “Not in this life.” Although he had never met Br. Anthony, who passed away in 2018, the visitor who lives near Br. Anthony’s hometown in Texas, was deeply inspired by his writing and his zeal to get the Gospel message out into the world. He visited Br. Anthony’s grave to pray for him and to ask Br. Anthony to pray for him as well.
In the evening session, all were captivated by the testimonies of the parents of Michelle Dupong, a FOCUS missionary who passed away of cancer and has been recognized as a Servant of God, and the Eucharistic miracles shared by Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, founder of the Roman Catholic religious order, the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth.
Fr. Mike Schmitz, the final speaker of the evening before a time of adoration in the stadium, encouraged all present to repentance as the path for regaining our first love of Our Lord. “Knowledge can make someone great, but only love can make a saint. I need more love. If I’ve lost my first love for the Lord, if I have lost that fire, what are the fire extinguishers in my life?”
“This Congress is the Church fully alive… almost another Eucharistic miracle, with Jesus so present in many ways. 50,000+ Catholics, beautiful liturgies, impactful speakers, music, and hundreds of booths… And RC is in the middle of it all. This is why we exist: to be with Jesus in his Church, to serve her with our charism!” -Fr. Daniel Brandenburg, LC
Into Gethsemane
On Day 3, the Congress opened our eyes to the effects of sin and the healing that Our Lord wants to give us. On the individual level, the speakers helped participants understand the healing of the whole person, including physical healing, psychological wounds, and spiritual sin. On the corporate level, as a Church, we recognized the areas where we’ve failed and the repentance and healing needed to unify the Body of Christ.
The theme of day three at the National Eucharistic Congress was ‘Healing.’ After Cardinal Wilton Gregory celebrated Mass, many speakers focused on spiritual, mental, and emotional healing. Some even spoke of their miraculous physical healings. Fr. Vinh Pham, LC, invited to speak by the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement, talked to a sold-out crowd in a packed room about “Mary, the Living Tabernacle: The Transforming and Freeing Power of ‘Fiat.'” He shared his family’s story of faith, courage, and suffering in leaving Vietnam to come to the United States as part of his explanation of living the FIAT.
By day three, the Regnum Christi booth had become known as ‘the booth where they take prayer intentions and nail them to the cross.’ We welcomed hundreds of people once again, humbled and honored to be entrusted with the desires of their hearts as they presented them to the Lord through the petitions they wrote down and shared. Some even came with envelopes stuffed full of prayer petitions to lay at the foot of the Mission Cross. We encountered two young religious sisters who had been in ECYD as young girls, several young men discerning the priesthood, and many families seeking to follow God’s plan for their lives.
In the evening, Paula Sautre of Atlanta shared her story of healing from an infection that left her paralyzed, an intention her children ran to Jesus with, and one he answered through the gifts of healing and technology. Sister Josephine Beckett, a sister of the Holy Family of Nazareth who is a nationally certified and licensed counselor and host of the “Hope Stories” podcast, invited everyone to healing through repentance in hope and joy, and Fr. Boniface Hicks, O.S.B., a monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey, led all in a prayer of healing during Adoration and A Eucharistic Procession inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
“I have so much hope for the Church, knowing the intentionality of the messages at this Congress, the investment in the experience of all the pilgrims, and the plan for this event to launch us from the foundation of a deep love of the Eucharistic Lord into a year of mission come directly from our bishops. The Church is alive and vibrant!” -Kerrie Rivard, lay member of Regnum Christi.
This Is My Body
Using the early Church as a model, this day built participants up as disciples through Jesus Christ to live out the Gospel in their love of both God and neighbor.
The highlight of Day 4 was the one-mile Eucharistic Procession through the streets of Indianapolis, leading to adoration before Our Lord, who was exposed in the Monstrance high above the city on the Indiana War Memorial.
The principal Mass at the opening of day 4 was a new experience for most people here at the Eucharistic Congress- it was celebrated in the beautiful Syro-Malabar rite by Bishop Joy Alappatt of the Syro-Malabar diocese in Chicago and Bishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic rite. In his homily, Bishop Gudziak spoke of his recent time in Ukraine, of the 120 people per day who are dying there because of the ongoing war, and of two priests he met who had been captured and tortured by Russian forces for 22 days. He called all present to prayer and to live our faith in this world bravely as Christians.
In the afternoon, we were part of a massive one-mile Eucharistic Procession that ended at the Indiana War Memorial, where Jesus in the Monstrance was adored by 60,000 people. Walking as a group, Regnum Christi held high the mission cross that had collected over 1,500 prayer intentions over the course of the Congress. The 11 Legionary candidates present, along with Fr. Vinh Pham, LC, and Fr. John van Dorpe, LC, led the group in prayer and songs while we walked.
The evening program opened with music by Matt Maher before an address by Tim Glembowski, CEO of the National Eucharistic Congress, who spoke of the challenges they faced in deciding to hold the Congress and the work involved over the last two years. “We were convicted that God wanted this moment for the United States,” he shared, “but we weren’t sure if the United States wanted this Congress.” The crowd of 60,000 present responded to this admission with rousing applause. Indeed, the Church in the United States did want this too.
Gloria Purvis, author, commentator, and host of the “Gloria Purvis Podcast,” spoke frankly and emphatically about the need for American Catholics to overcome divisions of different worship styles, different political stances, different opinions on the Holy Father, and the wounds caused by racism. Her pointed and passionate comments challenged all to love as Christ asks us to and to offer our prayers and sacrifices for the sins that have wounded and divided this country.
Jonathan Roumie, best known for portraying Jesus in “The Chosen,” spoke about his faith in the Eucharist as a Catholic. He gave a beautiful reading of Our Lord’s words in the Gospel through which he reveals himself as the Bread of Life.
In the final address of the night before Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament closed the evening, Bishop Robert Barron spoke of the vocation, rights, and responsibilities of the laity in our world today. Citing Dorothy Day as his inspiration, he challenged Catholics to move past the historically ‘lay responsibilities’ of living the Ten Commandments to embrace the Evangelical Counsels as Lumen Gentium encouraged lay people to. Long seen as the spirituality of those in Holy Orders and Consecrated Life, he emphatically spoke of them as lay responsibilities. By living the poverty of detachment, the Chastity of sexuality rightly ordered in service of love, and obedience to God instead of the promises of the world, the 70 million Catholics in the United States could change this country, he said, to thunderous applause. In urging the Church present to go out on mission he said, “Your Christianity is not for you. It’s not a self-help program to make you feel better about yourselves. Your Christianity is for the world. We are meant to be the bearer of Christ, the light of the world, to everyone. Along with the rights and privileges of the laity is the obligation of the laity- to go out into the world… Move into the secular world with Christ- live as body given and blood poured out!”
“I found myself desiring that everyone could see 60,000 people on their knees worshiping the Lord! So many young families are here. So much joy! Truly a Pentecostal moment for the Church! The streets are lined with locals awaiting the procession. I am certain all of heaven was smiling.” -Jeff and Donna Garrett, lay members of Regnum Christi
To the Ends of the Earth
Watch the Day 5 Revival Session and Mass
Pope Francis said the Eucharist is “a summons to go forth, as missionaries, to bring the message of the Father’s tenderness, forgiveness and mercy to every man, woman and child.” Throughout the history of the Church, the Holy Spirit has empowered the Church to go to the ends of the earth to share the good news. On this last day of the Congress, participants were commissioned to go out as missionary disciples as we enter the third year of the National Eucharistic Revival: the Year of Mission.
On the final day of the Congress, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect for the Section of Evangelization of the Dicastery for Evangelization and the special Papal Delegate to the Congress who had recently ordained 20 new Legionary priests, celebrated Mass for the 60,000+ in attendance, including almost 2,000 priests and 137 bishops. The Indiana Symphony Orchestra provided the music for the Mass.
In his homily, Cardinal Tagle focused on Jesus’ mission as a gift from the Father. He challenged all present to see and appreciate their own lives, those around them, and the world through the lens of gift. “Do we still look at ourselves, persons, objects, work, society, events, and creation within the horizon of gift?”
Warning participants to avoid self-absorption and complaint, he exhorted, “We should not keep Jesus to ourselves. That is not discipleship. That is selfishness.” The Cardinal spoke of the mandate all the faithful have to share the love and compassion they have received from Jesus with the weary, the lost, and the divided.
As the Congress ends, we enter the Year of Missionary Sending, sent out to share all our Lord has done for us and all we have received at the 10th National Eucharistic Congress.
“All of us here are like the apostles gathered with Mary in the Upper Room, receiving the Spirit and going forth to be joyful Eucharistic apostles of the Kingdom…the closing mass is just the beginning of revival! It has been a grace to live this historic moment with my whole RC family serving and loving in the heart of the Church” – Laura Matthews, Consecrated woman of Regnum Christi
All Regnum Christi at the National Eucharistic Congress photos and videos are available for viewing here in our flickr album.
