Congress calls on Catholics to ‘Walk with One,’ evangelize through ‘spiritual companionship’
August 13, 2024
(Photo by James Ramos/Herald)
INDIANAPOLIS (OSV News) — At the sending-forth Mass July 21, Pope Francis’ special envoy to the congress, Luis Cardinal Tagle, delivered a homily with warmth, joy and humor that made participants both laugh and feel inspired as he told them, “A Eucharistic people is a missionary and evangelizing people.”
“We should not keep Jesus to ourselves,” he said, exhorting them not to use their time in church to escape others but to “share Jesus’ tender love” with “the weary, the hungry and suffering ... the lost, confused and weak.”
“Go and share Jesus’ gift of reconciliation and peace to those who are divided,” he said, emphasizing, “Let us proclaim Jesus joyfully and zealously for the life of the world!”
At the close of the National Eucharistic Congress’ final Mass, Bishop Cozzens asked the crowd in Lucas Oil Stadium if they would take their love of the Eucharist and the Church, strengthened over the five days of the congress, and identify one person in their life to intentionally evangelize.
“Brothers and sisters, we believe that God desires to renew His Church, and that this renewal will happen through you. And then, in renewing His Church, He will renew the world,” said Bishop Cozzens, board chairman of National Eucharistic Congress Inc.
“What you received as a gift, you must give as a gift,” he said. “This year we’ve invited you to ‘walk’ with one person. What would happen if each of you thought of one person you know who’s currently away from the faith; and you decided to pray for them and befriend them and then invite them to take one step closer to Jesus and His Church?
“What would happen if 70 million Catholics did that?” he asked, referring to an estimated number of Catholics in the U.S. “And so my question is: Will you do it? Will you do it?”
The crowd cheered. Bishop Cozzens referred them to the U.S. bishops’ Walk with One initiative, launched with the congress, that provides resources to help Catholics engage in “spiritual companionship” and effectively evangelize through their existing relationships.
The initiative is a key component of the Year of Mission, the third and final year of the U.S. bishops’ National Eucharistic Revival, which began in 2022 and included the July 17 to 21 congress and its preceding National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.
After the Mass, Sister Marie Martha Le, OP, a Dominican Sister of Mary Immaculate Province from Houston, said she felt inspired by Cardinal Tagle’s message and the diversity of the people represented at the congress, including the older generations.
“I am so amazed by the faith of our people,” she said. From families with energetic children to elders in wheelchairs and walkers, “they are here to participate, to witness and to receive eternal love.”
“Like Cardinal Tagle said, we all have received a gift, and so, therefore, let us go and share our gifts,” Sister Le said. “I have to go out and give away the gift that I have received. It is Him, Christ, the eternal Son of the Father. May each and every one of us continue to embrace Christ and to bring Christ to another.”
Standing behind the stage following the congress’s final Mass, Bishop Cozzens told OSV News that the congress’ final Mass “was the commissioning, and really inviting people to be sent to take up the missionary year of the Eucharistic revival.”
Bishop Cozzens also announced that a Eucharistic pilgrimage from Indianapolis to Los Angeles is being planned for spring 2025.
Congress organizers had also been considering holding an 11th National Eucharistic Congress in 2033, the “Year of Redemption,” 2,000 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, but they’re now discerning organizing an event sooner, said Bishop Cozzens, board chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress, Inc., which organized the five-day congress and preceding eight-week Eucharistic pilgrimage.
Few logistics for next year’s pilgrimage have been determined, Bishop Cozzens told OSV News following the Mass. The route will likely travel through the American Southwest, culminating in a Corpus Christi Mass in Los Angeles with Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles. With more than 4 million Catholics, Los Angeles is home to the nation’s largest Catholic population.
“We decided that we want to keep this tradition of a national Eucharistic pilgrimage going,” Bishop Cozzens said. “The goal is basically to continue the renewal that’s begun through these Eucharistic pilgrimages.”
As for the timing of next Eucharistic congress, Bishop Cozzens said congress organizers have been inspired by “all the people at the congress saying that we have to do this again, and when we were telling people we’re going to do it in 2033, they would say it’s too late, we might lose momentum in nine years.”
He noted that that sentiment came from congress benefactors and people who have been involved since the beginning.
From May 17 to 18, Pentecost weekend, 30 young adult “perpetual pilgrims” traveled with the Eucharist along four routes, beginning in California, Connecticut, Minnesota and Texas.
Collectively, they traveled through 27 states and 65 dioceses, covering a combined distance of 6,500 miles — many of them on foot — with the help of support vehicles. Their pilgrimage included daily stops at parishes, shrines and Catholic institutions, for Mass, Eucharistic processions and Adoration, while experiencing the array of Catholicism in America along the way.
The pilgrims converged in downtown Indianapolis July 16, ahead of the National Eucharistic Congress, at St. John the Evangelist, a historic Catholic church immediately across from the main entrance of the Indiana Convention Center. Speaking with OSV News, pilgrims described the experience as personally life-changing and described seeing its deep effects on many people who encountered the Eucharist through it.
The pilgrimage and congress were part of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative of the U.S. bishops launched in 2022 to increase understanding of and love for Jesus in the Eucharist. The close of the congress launched the Year of Mission, during which the bishops are encouraging Catholics to “walk with one” by sharing their faith and accompanying another person to better know Jesus and His love.