Bishops eager to renew and deepen appreciation of the Eucharist

By Daniel Conway (Special to The Criterion)

I recently had the privilege of attending the public sessions of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) spring plenary assembly held in Louisville, Ky., on June 12–14.

The bishops meet twice a year for prayer and discussion of issues that concern the Church and our nation. This year, topics discussed included the worldwide 2021–2024 Synod on Synodality; the bishops’ national mental health campaign; the National Eucharistic Revival and the National Eucharistic Congress; the Religious Worker Visa Program, and the National Review Board. For more information about this meeting and the matters discussed, please consult the USCCB website at tinyurl.com/USCCBSpring2024.

Among the many important issues that the bishops addressed was the three-year National Eucharistic Revival, which will experience a “peak moment” during the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis on July 17-21. The National Eucharistic Revival was also consistently mentioned by the bishops who spoke or gave reports.

In their opening remarks, apostolic nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the pope’s representative in the United States, and Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for Military Services USA, president of the USCCB, both reflected on the importance of the Eucharistic Revival to the spiritual health and vitality of the Church in the United States.

“We have set out on this Eucharistic Revival because we want our people to come to a renewed and deeper appreciation of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. We want them to know that Christ is there for them in the Eucharist: to receive their adoration, to accompany them in their earthly journey, and to feed them with the Bread of Life,” Cardinal Pierre said. “We want them also to know the implications of encountering Christ in this way: how it calls them to an ongoing journey of conversion; and also how it commits them to a life of evangelization–of being people who offer an open-hearted welcome of mercy to everyone who seeks a place in God’s Church.

“The eucharistic processions that are going on right now, and which will converge on Indianapolis next month, are an outward symbol of what we want to happen on a spiritual level. We want people to turn to the Eucharistic Lord, to walk with him, and to be led by him,” he continued. “We also want this to happen in the context of community. Our people need to experience that a journey with the Lord is also a journey with others who seek the Lord. That this journey is a true synod.”

The apostolic nuncio’s words were echoed by the USCCB president in his address on June 14. Archbishop Broglio observed that the bishops of the United States are eagerly awaiting the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis because it will be a powerful moment of prayer, witness and spiritual growth for the Church in our country. He expressed his thanks to Indianapolis Archbishop Charles C. Thompson and Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minn., for their leadership of this important event.

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Church’s life. Everything that the bishops discussed, and every action taken at the spring meeting, must be grounded in devotion to the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Everything must flow from, and be sustained by, the Church’s unwavering conviction that Christ is here with us now—body and blood, soul and divinity—as the Word of God Incarnate truly present to us in the holy Eucharist.

Cardinal Pierre’s reference to the eucharistic journey as a “true synod” recalls the consistent refrain of our Holy Father that the Church is governed by the Holy Spirit, not by politics or parliamentary procedures. The bishops who gathered in Louisville are not rulers or legislators. They are pastors who must listen to the word of God, and the voices of their people, in order to discern God’s will for our Church.

Bishops are also not superheroes. They are ordinary men who have been called to an extraordinary ministry of love and service. Without the Holy Spirit, they are powerless to make decisions and take actions that will carry out the responsibilities entrusted to them at the time of their episcopal ordination.

Devotion to the holy Eucharist is a vivid sacramental reminder of the fact that Christ is truly present among us. The U.S. bishops are right to remind themselves—and all of us—that Christ alone is the head of the Church and Savior of the world.

(Daniel Conway is a member of The Criterion’s editorial committee.) †