This June kicks off year two in the three-year National Eucharistic Revival and will focus on reinvigorating the engagement of Catholics with the Eucharist at the parish level. In the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, a historic Eucharistic Congress this Fall will be a highlight of this second year.
“The goal [of the revival] is to rekindle our relationship with Jesus truly present in the Eucharist, the source and summit of Christian life,” said Father Joseph Shenosky, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Oxford, who serves as the Archdiocesan Coordinator for the Eucharistic Revival. “The Eucharist is central to our life of faith.”
In 2019, a Pew Research Center study stated that only one-third of Catholics agreed with the Church that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Jesus Christ, and that two-thirds of Catholics considered the bread and wine used for Communion to be “symbols.”
In response, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops kicked off the National Eucharistic Revival on June 19, 2022, the day of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord to “renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the holy Eucharist,” as stated on its website.
The first year of the Eucharistic Revival (June 19, 2022 – June 11, 2023) was the Diocesan Phase, and invited clergy and parish leaders to respond to the Lord’s personal invitation and equip them to share this love with the faithful at upcoming events.
The second year of the Eucharistic Revival (June 11, 2023 – July 17, 2024), the Parish Phase, will foster Eucharistic devotion at the parish level, strengthening our liturgical life through faithful celebration of the Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, missions, resources, preaching, and organic movements of the Holy Spirit.
“We’re very excited about the parish phase,” says Father Shenosky. “The idea behind the parish year, the second phase, is to have a parish playbook made available with ideas for parishioners to implement the Eucharistic Revival in their parishes.”
The parish playbook describes four pillars for Eucharistic revival:
- Reinvigorate our worship in Liturgical celebration of the Eucharist.
- Create moments of personal encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist.
- Engage in a robust formation.
- Send Catholics forth as missionaries of the Eucharist.
A highlight of this year will be the Archdiocese of Philadelphia hosting a Eucharistic Congress on Saturday, September 30th at the National Shrine of our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown. It will be an all-day event from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We’re very excited about the speakers we have,” said Father Shenosky. “The congress is going to be very historic in the archdiocese.”
The event will open with Mass celebrated by Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez. He will be joined by homilist and keynote speaker Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia. Born in Philadelphia, Bishop Burbidge studied at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1984. He was ordained an auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia in 2002 serving in that role until 2006.
“We’re welcoming him home to the archdiocese for the congress,” says Fr. Shenosky of Bishop Burbidge. “It will be wonderful to see him and have him with us.”
One of the speakers is Antonia Acutis, mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis, an Italian Catholic youth and website designer, who is best known for documenting Eucharistic miracles around the world and cataloguing them onto a website which he created before his death from leukemia at age 15.
“It’s such a blessing she accepted our invitation,” said Father Shenosky. “She’ll talk about the Eucharist and her son’s devotion to the Eucharist.”
“My hope in this parish year is that people in our parishes will become more familiar with the life and message of Blessed Carlo Acutis,” he added. “As he always used to say, ‘The Eucharist is my highway to Heaven.’”
Another speaker is Dr. Edward Sri, a theologian, author, well-known Catholic speaker, and one of the founders of Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS).
The Eucharistic Congress Choir will lead faithful during the opening Mass with some 200 voices from 33 parishes and high schools of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
In addition to Mass and speakers, the event will offer Eucharistic Adoration, Confession, recitation of the Rosary, and Stations of the Cross.
“It’s our hope for the parish year that parishes will register [for the event] and bring buses of parishioners,” says Father Shenosky. “We hope there will be excitement generated in the parishes for our historic congress.”
The National Eucharistic Revival will culminate next year, the third and final phase, in two major events involving Catholics across the entire country. In the summer of 2024, thousands are expected to participate in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage beginning from each corner of the country and ending in Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress July 17–24.
Next year, the final year, will be dedicated to the Church going out on mission to renew the world.
“We ultimately want to get to the relationship with the Lord,” says Shenosky. “The relationship is important.”
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For more information on the Eucharistic Revival in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, please visit www.phillyeucharisticrevival.org.
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