INDIANAPOLIS — During the five-day 10th National Eucharistic Congress held July 17-21, 50,000 Catholics attended Masses, listened to speakers and music and prayed in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
Among the crowd were dozens of parishioners from parishes across the Archdiocese of Louisville — clergy, parish staff, families, students, single people and retirees.
Karen Purnell, a parishioner of St. Athanasius Church, said the event revealed the Church’s unity.
“You get this feeling that it is a really big church, … bound together in the communion of the Eucharist,” she said between sessions.
The gathering in Indianapolis was one piece of a three-year initiative sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The initiative, known as the National Eucharistic Revival, was designed to unify and renew the American Catholic Church with the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist as its focus.
Each full day of the Congress began with the family rosary and concluded with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in Lucas Oil Stadium. In addition to the nightly revival sessions in the stadium, registrants were given access to a variety of other opportunities to grow their faith at the Indiana Convention Center and other nearby venues.
An exposition hall was open daily, allowing participants to explore religious orders, ministries and Catholic businesses. Other opportunities included exhibits on the Shroud of Turin and eucharistic miracles, listening to Catholic podcasts as they were recorded live, and a service opportunity with the Million Meal Movement to package meals for the hungry.
Mass was celebrated in various forms, including the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, the Syro-Malabar Qurbānā and the Mass according to the 1962 Missal. Liturgies were also celebrated in Spanish and there was a special youth Mass.
On July 20, the tens of thousands of Congress participants brought their faith to the streets, forming a column of worshipers as they processed with the Blessed Sacrament through downtown Indianapolis.
“All these people are strangers, but you don’t feel like strangers because of the communion of faith,” said Theresa Watson of her experience at the Congress. She serves as coordinator of family faith formation and pastoral assistant for St. Teresa of Calcutta Church in Fairdale, Ky.
Debbie Shearn, a parishioner of St. Albert the Great Church and co-chair of its Revival Year Committee, said the opportunities for adoration provided “a true taste of heaven.”
“During eucharistic adoration, I felt like I was on Mount Tabor with Jesus at the Transfiguration,” said Shearn.
Debbie Minton, the director of religious formation at St. Athanasius Church, added, “The reverence draws you in.”
Dr. Holly Smith-Brooks, director of liturgy and music at St. Margaret Mary Church, said she was moved to tears during the opening session of the Congress, when the four routes of the Eucharistic Pilgrimage converged in a procession into Lucas Oil Stadium. The Congress then began with adoration.
Emiliegh Ledgerwood, youth and young adult ministry coordinator at St. Margaret Mary Church, said that for her and the other staff members from her parish, “Our cup is being filled. We’re glad to be here.”
Ledgerwood said that going to reconciliation on the first night was a powerful way to enter into the experience. She recalled that Father Josh Johnson, one of the three emcees of the Congress, encouraged participants to go to reconciliation on the opening night.
“We couldn’t wait,” she said. As Ledgerwood and Smith were in the confession line, they said “the line kept growing.”
Steven and Joelle Schlotter, parishioners of St. Gabriel Church, attended the Congress for two days with their four children: Mary Beth, 8; Ben, 6; Eli, 3; and Noah, 2. Joelle Schlotter said she was happy she made the children wear matching yellow shirts because there were so many children at the Congress.
The family participated in the “Cultivate” track, which was designed for families to attend with their children. In a recent interview, Joelle Schlotter said that the family experience was engaging for her children, including elements such as a puppet show about the Eucharist, arts and crafts, and family conversations about age-appropriate ways to serve one’s family. Among the suggestions was “giving each other hugs or getting the mail,” she said.
The track also included a guided family adoration.
“It was nice to go to adoration and not have to be quiet,” she added.
Cathy Cooke, a parishioner of St. Edward Church, said that she had been emotional as she thought about how this was the first Eucharistic Congress in 83 years.
“I am sorry that everyone could not have experienced this,” she said in a recent interview. “It increases my faith. You become complacent — then it becomes alive again.”
