Five days of speakers, worship, music and more
A participant prays during the closing Mass of the National Catholic Youth Conference at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis Nov. 18, 2023. The National Eucharistic Congress will be held in the stadium July 17-21. (OSV News | Mike Krokos, The Criterion) INDIANAPOLIS — “I think my heart is going to explode,” said Montse Alvarado, describing the way she expects to feel when she gathers with thousands of Catholics to adore the Eucharist at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium next week. “It feels like so much beauty at a moment when our country and our world is in the midst of war and so much pain, just to see this be our Church’s response – wow, what a witness.”
The United States’ first event of its kind in over half a century, the National Eucharistic Congress is expected to draw more than 40,000 Catholics July 17-21 for five days of prayer, speakers, liturgies and worship – all centered on Jesus in the Eucharist.
Speakers showcase a “who’s who” in Catholic evangelization, including Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, and founder of Word on Fire; Father Mike Schmitz of the
Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, and host of “The Bible in a Year” podcast; Sister Josephine Garrett, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth and host of the “Hope Stories” podcast; and Jonathan Roumie, who portrays Jesus in “The Chosen.”
The event is the pinnacle of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative the U.S. bishops launched on Corpus Christi Sunday in June 2022 to renew Catholics’ love for and understanding of Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist.
Alvarado, EWTN News president and COO and one of three emcees for the congress’s daily “revival sessions,” said she expects the congress to be a source of American Catholics’ spiritual unity, strengthened identity and renewed vigor through the Holy Spirit.
“I’m excited for people to connect with the Church,” she said, and “for the Church to encounter itself.”
IT ALL STARTS WEDNESDAY
The congress begins Wednesday night in Lucas Oil Stadium with the first of the four evening revival sessions, with Eucharistic Adoration, speakers and worship music. The event opens with a major procession with the 30 young adult “perpetual pilgrims” from all four routes of the eight-week National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.
The pilgrims set out with the Eucharist on Pentecost weekend from points in California, Connecticut, Minnesota and Texas to meet in Indianapolis for the congress, covering a combined 6,500 miles – many of them on foot – as they encountered Catholics at parishes and other sacred and secular sites for Mass and other worship experiences, Eucharistic processions and fellowship.
The opening procession will culminate in Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, entering the stadium with the Eucharist in a “massive” monstrance designed for the congress, leading to a time of silent adoration. Then participants will hear from Bishop Cozzens and the evening’s other keynote speakers, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the pope’s ambassador to the United States; and Sister Bethany Madonna, a Sister of Life in Phoenix.
As with each evening’s revival session, Alvarado will emcee along with Sister Miriam James Heidland, a sister of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity and co-host of the “Abiding
Together” podcast; and Father Josh Johnson, a priest of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and host of the “Ask Father Josh” podcast. Worship will be led by Dallas’ Dave and Lauren Moore, the founders of Catholic Music Initiative.
HEADLINING SPEAKERS, IMPACT SPEAKERS
Thursday, Friday and Saturday events begin with Relevant Radio’s Family Rosary Across America with Father Rocky Hoffman, followed by Mass, with English, Spanish and youth options, celebrated by key American prelates such as Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston and Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington.
After Mass, attendees are encouraged to go to seven “impact session” tracks being held in the stadium or at the adjacent Indiana Convention Center. With names like Encounter, Renewal and
Empower, each track is tailored for particular audiences – including ministry leaders, families, youth and priests – and features well-known Catholic leaders, experts and speakers.
Breakout sessions dive into topics ranging from apologetics to social action, with 40 speakers over three days.
Various liturgies will be offered, with options including Masses in English and Vietnamese (Friday only), as well as Byzantine Divine Liturgy and Mass according to the 1962 Missal (known as the “traditional Latin Mass”) offered at nearby parishes.
EXHIBITS, SHOWS AND CONCERTS
The congress will host a range of exhibits and experiences: the National Shroud of Turin Exhibit, which features a replica of the famous burial shroud believed to have covered Jesus in the tomb; the Eucharistic Miracles Exhibit, originally created by recently canonized St. Carlo Acutis (one of the Eucharistic revival’s patrons); a chapel with relics from St. Carlo and other saints associated with the revival; Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atriums, which offer Montessori-style faith formation for children up to age 12; and the CatholicHOM Immersive Family
Experience, which will include an interactive puppet show.
On Thursday night, “Bernadette de Lourdes, the Musical” – a theatrical performance about the Marian visionary of Lourdes, France – will be performed.
Thursday and Friday will also include an opportunity to pack meals for the hungry with Indianapolis-based Million Meal Movement. The Denver-based Christ in the City will also train small groups of people to encounter chronically homeless men and women in Indianapolis.
Meanwhile, an expansive expo hall in the convention center will feature booths and displays featuring apostolates, ministries, religious orders, publishers and more.
The convention center will also host three stages with rotating music acts and live podcast shows.
EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION AND REVIVALS
A key congress highlight is Saturday’s 3-5 p.m. Eucharistic procession through downtown Indianapolis – expected to make a visual and spiritual impact on the city.
On Wednesday to Saturday, revival sessions begin in Lucas Oil Stadium at 7 p.m. Thursday’s keynote speakers are Father Schmitz and Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, founder and servant mother of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth in the Archdiocese of Boston. Friday’s speakers are Sister Josephine and Father Boniface Hicks, a Benedictine monk of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and the event includes prayer for healing and reparation and a Eucharistic procession.
Saturday’s revival speakers are Bishop Barron; Roumie; Catholic media personality Gloria Purvis, and Tim Glemkowski, current CEO of National Eucharistic Congress Inc., the nonprofit organizing revival events, especially the congress and pilgrimage. Catholic musician Matt Maher will lead worship during Eucharistic Adoration.
On Sunday, the congress’s final day, the revival session will have speakers Mother Adela Galindo of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, who founded a bilingual “religious family” of religious sisters and brothers, priests and laypeople; and Chris Stefanick, founder of Real Life Catholic.
SENDING FORTH ON MISSION
The congress will end with a “great commissioning,” which organizers have compared to “a new Pentecost,” where attendees “will be sent out to joyfully proclaim the Gospel in every corner of our nation.” The congress will close with a 10 a.m. Mass celebrated by special papal envoy Cardinal Luis Tagle, pro-prefect of the Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Evangelization.
The congress kicks off the National Eucharistic Revival’s third year, the Year of Mission, which encourages Catholics to intentionally accompany someone on his or her faith journey back to the Catholic faith through its “Walk with One” initiative.
The July congress is the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, occurring 83 years after the Ninth National Eucharistic Congress in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“For five days, Catholics are going to take over a one-and-a-half-square-mile radius of downtown Indianapolis,” Glemkowski said. “I’m so excited for people to come and just have that experience of, ‘Oh, this is a huge deal, like, this is a big thing that’s happening in this city.’ You’re going to spend five days wrapped in the communion of the Church.”
— Maria Wiering, OSV News
Want to go?
Full or day passes and hotel rooms are still available for the National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21 in Indianapolis. Get more information about travel arrangements and see the full schedule at www.eucharisticcongress.org.