Pilgrims packed Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday morning for a Mass that would close the Church’s National Eucharistic Congress — and for a message from a Vatican cardinal that they should see each other as gifts from God, and take up the Gospel’s call to evangelize.
Cardinal Luis Tagle, who leads the Vatican’s office for missionary work around the world, told U.S. Catholics July 21 that “those who choose to stay with Jesus are sent by Jesus” — and that they have a mission to make known the message of the Gospel, both by making a gift of themselves, and by demonstrating the gift of Jesus Christ.
With an estimated crowd of nearly 50,000 Catholics in attendance Sunday, Congress chairman Bishop Andrew Cozzens spoke at the end of the Mass, promoting a “Walk with One” initiative that will encourage all Catholics to evangelize one person over the course of the next year.
To thunderous applause, Cozzens also announced the planning stages of a Eucharistic Congress set for 2033, while indicating that organizers are “discerning” whether to have it sooner. The bishop also said that the Congress organization — chartered by the U.S. bishops, but a stand-alone nonprofit, will organize a walking Eucharistic pilgrimage next year, which will travel from Indianapolis to Los Angeles.
Before the Mass, National Eucharistic Congress CEO Jason Shanks told The Pillar that the Congress is a “generational work that needs to go forward,” and that the Congress’ board, staff, and infrastructure will study whether there is need for work from the organization beyond the coordination of a future Eucharistic Congress.
Shanks said that the Congress organization is considering whether to develop programs to encourage “Eucharistic revival” in marriages and family life, and is also discussing the prospect of hosting regional conferences, or ongoing conferences for priests and other groups.
The priests’ track at the National Eucharistic Congress was well-received, with more than 900 priests in attendance daily, and bishops and others speaking to clerics about renewing and strengthening their priestly identity and ministry.
Shanks said that discernment will involve a “post action review,” with “surveys of different stakeholders, including bishops, participants, sponsors, and otherwise, so that we can ramp up a renewal engine for the Church.”
“One of my biggest frustrations in how the Church has operated in the last 20 or 30 years has been that we do these things and then we take them down, then we do them again and take them down again. So we’ve built an infrastructure that can last — that can continue — and can be of service, not only this Congress, but perhaps other major activities in the Church,” he added.
Shanks emphasized that he regards his organization at a period of possibilities, but is still discerning answers.
“How do we scale up? How do we learn from this [Congress], and how do we keep the momentum going?” Shanks asked. “How do we pull together as a Church, at least in the infrastructure, so that not everyone is working in silos?” he asked.
As the USCCB-organized Eucharistic Revival enters its third and final year, the Congress organization will remain connected to the bishops’ conference for at least the next year. But it is not clear how that might shift after the conclusion of the revival period, or how the Congress organization might receive ongoing funding if it takes up new projects.
‘I am not the same man’
Shanks and other Congress organizers told The Pillar that among their goals for event, “healing” took a priority, with many mentioning Catholics whose faith was wounded by the crisis of clerical sexual abuse in the Church.
Ron Vasek of Crookston, Minnesota, is one such Catholic.
In 2015, Vasek, then studying to be a deacon, was coerced by his bishop into recanting his claim that a diocesan priest had molested him decades earlier.
Vasek reported the coercion to the Vatican, and Hoeppner resigned his office after a Vatican investigation which concluded in 2021.
But the situation derailed Vasek’s plans to become a deacon. And Vasek has previously told The Pillar that both the sexual abuse he endured, and his former bishop’s attempted cover-up, had caused him both emotional and spiritual hardship.
At this week’s Eucharistic Congress, he said he had experienced something new.
“Coming here, I had some underlying anger — about what happened, the whole process, and then not being ordained a deacon. And I tried to accept it, and just kind of go with it, but I still had that anger.”
“And with anger, I’ve alway said it'll keep festering and festering and festering, and you'll never heal till you get rid of it,” he said.
“This week though, my heart changed. And I feel like things got a little bit easier. The speakers kept talking about the Eucharist and how healing it is. And I went to confession, and I talked to the priest about all this … and after that confession, I just feel so relieved now. I just feel better.”
“Last night at adoration, it was even more clear: ‘Just let go, Ron.’ And I want to say now that Jesus is always there for you. Some people might’ve hurt you, but Jesus always loves you. So don’t ever forget that. Just reach out and ask for it…. Reach out and touch Jesus and let him touch you back. Just let him be the healer. He's the ultimate physician,” Vasek said.
“I am not the same man today as I was on Wednesday, when I got here.”
‘To open my heart’
Earlier this week, Bishop Andrew Cozzens talked with The Pillar about the opening Holy Hour of the Eucharistic Congress, which Cozzens led, and at which tens of thousands of Catholics fell silent during adoration, after the monstrance was placed at the center of the stadium.
Bishop, when you carried the monstrance into that stadium, it was the culmination of years of work for you.
What went through your head before you stepped out onto the stadium floor?
I was thinking that dreams come true.
And I was thinking how much the Lord wanted to be with all of us. And how grateful I was to be with the Lord.
I was struck by the power of silence in the stadium — there was no music, no preaching, for a few minutes, there was just silent prayer.
How did you experience that moment?
Well, I asked that we would have that [silence] because I had that experience before at different places like World Youth Day where you had 100,000 people just silent before the Lord. And I know that that’s a very profound experience.
Also, I really wanted people to have the opportunity to open and present their hearts to the Lord, right? That does happen when we sing, but it also happens in a different way in silence.
Really, that’s all I was trying to do— is open my heart and present it to the Lord at that time.
