While the National Eucharistic Congress has a full conference slate of talks, workshops, exhibitors, and impromptu jam sessions in a church courtyard, the main events of the Congress activities are Eucharistic liturgies, with several offered each day across the many venues of the Congress.
With more than 50,000 total tickets sold, Masses offered even at off-site venues are attended by thousands of pilgrims, with a daily Eucharistic liturgy offered at Lucas Oil Stadium drawing tens of thousands.
The first official Mass offered at the Congress Thursday morning was celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.
Organizers, working with several lighting and design contractors, worked to create the appearance of a gothic church sanctuary, using giant LED screens displaying stone walls and stained glass imagery.
With dozens of bishop concelebrants — many of the 200 bishops expected to attend the Congress —- and hundreds of priests, Dolan offered the Mass with a quiet reverence, displaying a focused ars celebrandi in marked contrast to his frequently boisterous public persona.
The opening liturgy included sung antiphons, Latin devotional songs, and at the same time, a Gospel choir — with organizers saying they worked to see both traditionally Catholic and more contemporary ecclesial styles used in a way that would respect both, without seeming forced or in disharmony.
The tens of thousands of Catholics at the opening liturgy seemed to respond to the Congress; some worshippers could be seen in silent tears during a Mass that felt to many, despite the cavernous setting, rather intimate.
The distribution of the Eucharist in Lucas Oil Stadium, involving more than 100 priests, took more than 10 minutes, with pilgrims lining up at points across the stadium, with some kneeling before priests to receive the host.
After the Mass, chairman Bishop Andrew Cozzens told reporters at a press conference that distributing the Eucharist had taken longer than expected, as the logistics were worked out, but few Catholics who spoke with the Mass raised that concern.
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On Sunday, the stadium will host a closing Mass that could completely fill the accessible areas of the stadium. The Mass is expected to be offered by Cardinal Luis Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, who was appointed by Pope Francis as a delegate to the Congress.
But on Thursday, Tagle celebrated another liturgy, this time St. Peter and Paul Cathedral, a few miles from the hubbub of the Congress’ center.
The Mass was offered for the Filipino community of Indianapolis — but some of the several hundred attendees told The Pillar they had driven from neighboring states for Mass with Tagle, their compatriot.
Offered in Tagalog, with a choir singing melodies in the Filipino language, the Mass was very different from the giant liturgies in the stadium. But for attendees, it was no less important. One pilgrim told The Pillar it was spiritually renewing for him to hear the Gospel in his native language, and the words of the Mass that he had remembered first in early childhood, before immigrating to the United States.
Tagle, who was once regarded a front-runner for the papacy and is still probably a contender for the position, preached in English about the call of Christians to build the habits of love, in order to more faithfully follow after a loving God.
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Soon after attending that liturgy, The Pillar walked fast to another Indianapolis parish, Holy Rosary, where the Extraordinary Form of the Mass was offered by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.
(editor’s note: The Congress involves a LOT of walking.)
The Mass was offered in the personal parish designated in Indianapolis for worship in older liturgical rites, almost a mile from the stadium and convention center. But at least 1,200 pilgrims walked to the parish Thursday afternoon, with 400 in the church, another 800 in a large overflow tent close to the parish, and some families stretching out into a grass field behind the tent, with those at the tend watching the Mass on a large screen.
That liturgy came as some traditionalist Catholics have expressed concern about the prospect that Pope Francis might impose new restrictions on the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, and have expressed concern that some American bishops have made access to the Mass difficult in light of the pope’s 2021 legislation on the subject.
But the Catholics who spoke with The Pillar at the July 18 Extraordinary Form Mass seemed mostly glad to have a place to worship at the Eucharistic Congress according to their liturgical preferences.
Brianna Santana, 27, from Long Branch, California told The Pillar that she wanted to come to the Mass for “the reverence that the priest celebrates the Mass with, and just the silence of the Mass.”
“Just coming to the see the traditions that have been part of the Church for centuries — going to the same Mass the saints worshiped in.”
Santana said she was glad for the Extraordinary Form at the Congress, but added that she wished it been held in a larger venue, where all worshippers could be accommodated.
Organizers, for their part, said they tried to plan Extraordinary Form Masses in the church where it is permitted by the 2021 papal norms.
Cyril Cruz, 41, also from California, told The Pillar that attending the Extraordinary Form, as she has done for three years, has seen her faith change through the liturgy.
“First, as a mother, for my kids, to be able to show a very deep reverence for the Eucharist for my children is very important,” Cruz said.
“My faith has grown and really come alive — to understand who the True Presence is.”
“This reverence has been so awakening,” she added. “Beauty draws you in.”
