Even before the July 21 announcement that National Eucharistic Congress organizers are considering holding another congress in just a few years, 9-year-old Thomas Gangestad had prayed for it.
Having heard this was the first time a national Eucharistic congress had been held in 83 years, he was afraid this was the only chance in his lifetime to experience what he did over five days in Indianapolis.
Absolute silence filled Lucas Oil Stadium as tens of thousands of people dropped to their knees to adore Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament as the long-anticipated National Eucharistic Congress officially got underway on the evening of July 17 in Indianapolis. More than 100 spotlights trained on a large, golden monstrance on an altar in the center of the stadium as a powerful holy hour — which took place before any talks, music or greeting by the evening’s three emcees — began the congress’s first revival night filled with prayer, powerful speakers and praise-and-worship music.
The monstrance holding the Eucharist gleamed in the midday sun July 16 as pilgrims on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s northern Marian Route turned a downtown corner and came into view of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, the pilgrimage’s final destination.
Political discourse in the United States has devolved into people shouting at and not listening to each other, showing a need to promote respectful dialogue despite political differences, said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Catholic aid organizations in the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese confirmed they cannot get to work just yet because of the power outage that left about 2.5 million people in the dark following Hurricane Beryl’s landfall July 8 that cut a damaging path through eastern Texas and left at least eight people dead.
Marina Frattaroli describes herself as the National Eucharistic Revival’s “first convert,” after a related social media post led her to a website describing the church’s teaching on Jesus’ true presence in the Eucharist. Now she’s spending most of her waking hours with the Eucharist as one of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s 30 perpetual pilgrims, who set out from points in California, Connecticut, Texas and Minnesota to meet at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis July 17-21.
This spring Deacon Tom Hosty and his son Liam made history, becoming the first father and son to both be deacons at the same time in the 190-year history of the Catholic Church in central and southern Indiana.
Deacon Tom, 60, was ordained a permanent deacon for the Indianapolis Archdiocese in 2022, and Liam, 26, was ordained a transitional deacon as an archdiocesan seminarian April 27 at St. Barnabas Church in Indianapolis, with his ordination to the priesthood expected to happen in June of 2025.
“I think my heart is going to explode,” said Montse Alvarado, describing the way she expects to feel when she gathers with tens of thousands of Catholics to adore the Eucharist at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium in July. “It feels like so much beauty at a moment when our country and our world is in the midst of war and so much pain, just to see this be our church’s response — wow, what a witness.”
At least two people have been killed and thousands have been evacuated due to the South Fork and Salt fires in New Mexico, which broke out June 17. Some 1,400 structures have been destroyed and more than 23,000 acres ravaged.
As the nation marked Juneteenth, the head of the U.S. bishops’ anti-racism committee called for renewed efforts to combat the historical legacy of slavery and racism.
