The mission of the National Eucharistic Revival is “to renew the church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.”
For the last year, that mission was carried out by dioceses around the nation. Beginning June 11, the solemnity of Corpus Christi, the mission shifts to parishes for the next year.
The Archdiocese of Louisville will launch the parish year with a Corpus Christi procession June 11 in downtown Louisville. The procession will begin after the 5:30 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption.
In a short video about the parish year Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre says, “A public procession bears witness to our oneness with the Body of Christ and the whole community and our willingness to take the Eucharist out to the world and to live our eucharistic faith in action.”
He invites Catholics to attend the procession and engage in the parish year of the revival.
“This will look different in every parish,” he tells viewers, noting that some parishes are planning their own Corpus Christi processions.
The revival isn’t just a program, Archbishop Fabre says in the video, “but an opportunity to permanently adjust our focus, to be strengthened by our love for Jesus in the Eucharist and to be called to make him the very center of our lives and of our actions.”
To help parishes accomplish this, the website of the National Eucharistc Revival, eucharisticrevival.org, has provided a parish playbook.
The first step is for parishes to name a point person to coordinate the parish revival, said Dr. Karen Shadle, director of the Office of Worship.
“Hopefully parishes have named a point person,” she said. “The playbook contains a lot of good ideas for parishes.”
For example, she said, the playbook provides a pre-packaged small-group study program called “Jesus in the Eucharist.”
“It’s very low maintenance, she said. “There’s no content creation. It’s for parish groups that already know each other. You can take what your parish is already doing and add this layer to it.”
The playbook outlines “four pillars” for revival:
- Reinvigorated Worship – Place renewed emphasis on the celebration of the liturgy.
- Personal Encounters – Parishes may choose to host monthly “Encounter Nights” featuring adoration and confession.
- Robust Formation – Use the “Jesus and the Eucharist” small-group initiative to boost formation.
- Send missionaries – This one is two-pronged. First, bring people back to the church through the “Invite One Back” campaign. A second, recommit to serving the poor in your parish community in a new way.
The revival website says that by participating in the four pillars, “Every parish in the country will experience profound renewal.”
In June of next year, the parish year will give way to the national year. The revival will feature two major initiatives, which Archbishop Fabre called “once-in-a-generation events.”
First, there will be a National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. Four groups of pilgrims will depart from different points in the country and pass through cities large and small on foot carrying the Eucharist to Indianapolis. The Juan Diego Route, which begins in Texas, is expected to reach the Archdiocese of Louisville in early July 2024, winding its way up Highway 31E. More details about the pilgrimage route and events will be available in the coming months, said Shadle.
The pilgrimage will end in Indianapolis at the National Eucharistic Congress, where 80,000 Catholics are expected to converge July 17-21, 2024.For more information about these events and initiatives, visit www.eucharisticrevival.org/.
