Eucharistic Revival

Stories by Kristine Rilling featuring an essay by Melanie Sisinni
09/09/2024

From the Four Corners: From the Four Corners: We are together, we are one

Stories by Kristine Rilling featuring an essay by Melanie Sisinni

The Diocese of Erie joined more than 60,000 faithful in celebrating the Eucharist at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana. Faith magazine was there to capture the spirit of this profound gathering, bringing the experience back home. Read about this inspiring journey in this special section, which follows the theme of each day. #ErieInIndy

Would you believe?

Would you believe 60,000 men, women and children gathered in an NFL stadium to pray, to learn, to sing and to worship the Eucharistic Lord?

Would you believe it was not only possible, but so profound and moving an experience that even the teenagers didn’t want to leave?

And would you believe one more thing? Within a year of discovering that many American Catholics misunderstood the church’s teaching on Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist, U.S. bishops created a three-year plan to address this, starting with dioceses, then parishes, and culminating in a national five-day conference this summer that surpassed expectations in content, execution, and spiritual impact.

We are here to tell you it’s all true.

With full hearts and a profound devotion to Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, Faith magazine is pleased to present a special section on the first National Eucharistic Congress held in 83 years. Our journey forward is not just about deepening our love, but also about evangelizing, spreading the message of the Eucharist to inspire and unite more hearts in faith. As Catholics prepare to embark on year three of the National Eucharistic Revival — the Year of Mission — we invite you to open your hearts and take in some of the moments, the insights and the joys of the National Eucharistic Congress 2024. What we share in the following pages is indeed a celebration of all that was experienced by pilgrims from the Diocese of Erie and beyond. Make no mistake. The Catholic Church is alive!

Essay by Melanie Sisinni, editor, Diocese of EriE-News

I started working with the Diocese of Erie in the first year of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year effort to renew and reinvigorate a love and understanding of God’s presence in the Eucharist. Part of this “revival” was the first planned National Eucharistic Congress (NEC) in 83 years. For the entirety of my time with the diocese, we had been planning and discussing the importance of being at this event. Still, it wasn’t until the NEC was right on the horizon that I realized the scope of how massive this congress would be for the modern church.

The Office of Communications had planned to send two people to cover the event, and when I found out I was due to have a fourth baby in September, we started taking measures to ensure I could travel safely.

Throughout the five-day experience, more than 60,000 faithful attended at least one day of the congress, so you can imagine what that looked like in Lucas Oil Stadium. On the first night of the NEC, people were excited and shouting as representatives from each National Eucharistic Pilgrimage route brought in portraits of the saints representing their journeys, surrounding an altar in the middle of the stadium where Eucharistic Adoration would occur.

Anyone who went to the National Eucharistic Congress will tell you that one of the most unique aspects of the event was how everyone went out of their way to connect. While standing in lines or seated and waiting for sessions, conversations were struck up among strangers who had never met before and who perhaps would never meet again. People were quick to talk to the guest speakers and performers after sessions. There was a deep sense of community unlike anything I had ever seen.

I made my way to confes sion on the last full day of the congress, stupidly thinking if I went during Mass, the lines would be shorter. It’s a big job to hear thousands and thousands of confessions, and most people present at the NEC made it part of their mission to participate in the sacrament to fully receive the grace of a plenary indulgence.

I did my best to wait in line, but in the end, it wasn’t my impatience that killed me but my own body. I had been pushing myself all week to do more and see more, but I wasn’t paying attention to the rest my body desperately needed. I felt myself starting to sweat. Breathing became more difficult, and my heart rate increased as I stood in line. Several people offered me a chair, but I politely declined, as my I can do it attitude told me to keep going. Finally, I gave in. I asked the girl behind me if she would mind if I sat on the floor and waited until she got closer to the front to get back up. Of course, she said that was fine. Again, people offered me chairs, and I was too proud to say yes, so I sat on the floor until my heart rate eventually climbed, and I started to cry.

Embarrassed, I quickly left the room and ran to the bathroom. There was only one woman in the stall, who came out to a hysterical me. She asked what was wrong, and I told her I was overwhelmed. My husband was at Mass, and I was alone and anxious and, again, massively pregnant. A second woman entered the room, and they both offered to pray with me and gave me hugs of encouragement.

When I calmed down, I returned to the confession area and sat on the floor. This time, however, I took all the help offered through tears. Multiple people offered to let me in front of them, and I accepted until I was at the front of the line. A kind, religious sister offered me a litany pamphlet and reminded me that Jesus loved me, making me cry more. If the priest acting as my confessor thought I was a crazy person, he didn’t show it. He kindly offered me tissues.

After confession, I went to where I knew my husband was attending Mass to wait for him so he could walk me back to the hotel for some much-needed rest. A man from the confession line happened to be passing by, and he sat down next to me and asked if I was okay. I told him I would be fine and was waiting for my husband, but he sat with me to comfort me anyway.

This day was the day that I truly felt the presence of God at the National Eucharistic Congress. The week was about understanding Jesus’s sacrifice by making himself vulnerable and human to help us have eternal life in heaven. I needed to learn that allowing ourselves to be vulnerable and human is okay, too. As parents, as young adults, as Catholics, and frankly, just as people, there is an enormous amount of pressure to be perfect. It took five days at the NEC to witness human interactions that I might not have seen otherwise to realize that we don’t have to be “on it” one hundred percent of the time.

The next NEC is planned for 2033, the Year of Redemption. I recommend attending, no matter what stage of life you are in. Bring your children. Come by yourself. Go with a group. I can honestly say it’s worth it to feel the presence of God’s love on Earth.

“The National Eucharistic Congress was awesome,” said Anthony Frisina, 19, a parishioner of Erie’s St. Peter Cathedral, who went to Blessed Sacrament and Cathedral Prep before attending Gannon University, Erie. Currently, he serves with National Evangelization Teams (NET) Ministries.

Frisina’s trip to the National Eucharistic Congress (NEC) was a spiritual journey filled with unexpected blessings and remarkable encounters. One such experience was meeting speaker Paula Umaña, a former tennis champion with a paralyzing neurological condition. She has found purpose through her ministry.

Frisina was drawn to Umaña in the exhibit hall and asked, “Can I get a picture?” She agreed, inviting him to her booth where he observed her struggling to transport tennis balls to her session.

“I offered to carry them for Paula. She accepted and began introducing me as her family,” Frisina said with a smile. “She asked me to pray over her before her talk, so I did,” he continued. “We were picked up in golf carts and rode around town like VIPs! Her session was powerful.”

After, Frisina joined Umaña in visiting the Shroud of Turin exhibit, again being treated like a VIP. On the way to the exhibit, Frisina met the chairman and CEO of Relevant Radio, Father Rocky Hoffman. Frisina chuckled, saying “Father Rocky asked “Sir, is this your mother?’ And I said ‘Yes.’ Paula was telling everybody I was her son!”

Continuing down the hall, “I look over to the left, and there is Jesus and the monstrance for the procession!” Frisina said excitedly. They joined in the National Eucharistic Procession with Umaña’s actual son Charles and attended the Benediction afterward. All the while, Frisina was carrying those tennis balls.

Frisina graciously escorted Umaña back to her hotel where he met several notable figures: Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States of America; Cardinal Luis Tagle, cardinalbishop of San Felice da Cantalice; NEC Chair Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota; Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, and founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, and several Sisters of Life.

All these remarkable experiences were a result of a simple act of kindness. “She was treating me like her own son all because I offered to carry something for her,” Frisina said. Umaña invited him and his friend, Dale Hyland, a St. Mark seminarian, to a VIP dinner in her name, where they dined with cardinals and met Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart.”Hugging her was like hugging heaven,” Frisina said with emotion. “She grabbed my hand, and said ‘Anthony, pray for me. I love you so much, Anthony, pray for me’. It was an incredible moment.”

Reflecting on the experience, Frisina shared, “I went in with no expectations, and the Lord still shattered them. The chances of everything happening the way it did are one out of 60,000, and it happened to me. Seeing everyone united in worship was incredible. I was so blessed.”

Read more about the renowned speakers at the National Eucharistic Congress at https://www.eucharisticcongress.org.

Largest Eucharistic procession in decades transforms Indianapolis streets

“Jesus is coming!” a woman joyfully exclaimed, her voice filled with warmth as if welcoming a treasured friend.

There was an overwhelming sense of openness as the faithful were ready to invite the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist into their hearts. Many had gathered around the iconic Soldiers and Sailors Monument, while Faith magazine secured a bird’s eye view from a nearby balcony.

The scene below was lively: children playing in a patch of green grass, a family sharing a picnic lunch together and an elderly couple who were offered a seat in a shaded spot under a tree on the warm July afternoon. All were eagerly waiting.

In a profoundly spiritual display, the attendees sang and cheered, expressing their love for Jesus as they prepared for the largest National Eucharistic Procession in decades. Indianapolis, already a large urban area, was seemingly transformed in the Spirit.

Leading the procession were young children who recently made their first Communion, scattering flower petals along the streets. The boys, handsomely dressed in formal suits and wearing proud smiles, escorted the girls adorned in white Catechism gowns.

Following the children were thousands of priests, more than 100 bishops and cardinals, seminarians, deacons, sisters and the faithful that stretched in a line much longer than the one-mile route. Onlookers joyfully waved at familiar faces from their dioceses, eventually joining the procession once it had passed. Pilgrims from northwest Pennsylvania were there, too. They proudly greeted others as they carried a black umbrella decorated with green and yellow streamers and adorned with the name of the Diocese of Erie.

As the Eucharist approached, housed in a papally blessed golden monstrance, accompanied by Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, and Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis, a hush fell over the crowd. Despite the thousands gathered, profound silence prevailed, thick with prayer. God was present.

Once the Blessed Sacrament passed by, those in waiting joined the procession to the Indiana War Memorial where Bishop Cozzens processed with the monstrance for the Benediction.

The faithful then gathered along the lawns and lined the city blocks surrounding the memorial for the deeply moving Benediction. Many knelt, some on pavement made hot by the summer sun, seemingly unaffected.

All were in awe of being in the presence of Jesus.

Sunday, the final day of the National Eucharistic Congress, was a day of reflection. It was not a feeling that something was ending but in fact, that something was beginning. It was a feeling of renewal.

The stadium once again filled with thousands of faithful people with full hearts and a common purpose to praise the Lord. Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the pro-prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, appointed by Pope Francis to serve as the papal envoy for the event.

Attendees were encouraged to consider what they had experienced over the past five days. They were asked to go forward, spreading the Gospel and sharing Jesus’ “tender love [with] the weary, the hungry and suffering.”

“Mission is not just about work but also about the gift of oneself,” Cardinal Tagle reflected. “Jesus fulfills his mission by giving himself, his flesh, his presence to others as the Father wills it. The presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is a gift and the fulfillment of his mission.”

At the conclusion of the Mass, Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who served as chair of the National Eucharistic Congress, took center stage, receiving a standing ovation from those present in the stadium.

“I have a question for you,” he teased the crowd. “This is the 10th National Eucharistic Congress — do you think we should do an 11th one?” The crowd erupted with enthusiastic applause, cheers, stomping and whistles. At home, text messages and videos were received. A decisive note of approval.

As if to share a secret with his closest friends, Bishop Cozzens revealed that congress organizers had already been planning for the next congress in 2033, coinciding with the Year of Redemption and marking the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s death and resurrection.

He also announced another National Eucharistic Pilgrimage next year, starting in Indianapolis and arriving in Los Angeles in time for Corpus Christi Sunday, June 22, 2025. While this congress concluded, evangelizing is just beginning. Leading into the congress, Joel Stepanek, vice president of programming and administration for the National Eucharistic Congress, shared that all faithful are perpetual pilgrims.

“This is not our home,” he said, “We are walking toward our home.” The congress was the faithful coming together to gather in Christ to be sent back out to help draw others and lead others through this journey. One key message woven throughout the event was the importance of encouraging others to return to Sunday Mass.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, papal envoy, added: “Go and share Jesus’ shepherd’s caress to the lost, confused and weak...Go and share Jesus’ gift of reconciliation and peace to those who are divided.”

Learn more about the Year of Mission here: https://www.eucharisticrevival.org/year-of-mission