WASHINGTON — The U.S. Catholic Church’s three-year eucharistic revival about to get underway “is not a program but a movement” that is an invitation to the faithful from God to go on mission and be compelling witnesses of our faith, said Tim Glemkowski, the newly named executive director of the National Eucharistic Congress.
“We the church have to be clear about telling our story, getting to the core” of our faith, that “God is not just some distant someone who is not engaged,” he told Catholic News Service April 5. “He’s alive and real and can be encountered in the Eucharist, source and summit of the faith. … This is where God is with us.”
Local revival plans
The National Eucharistic Revival begins June 19, the feast of Corpus Christi, and culminates with the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in 2024. Along the way, there will be parish, diocesan and regional events to increase Catholics’ understanding of the Real Presence in the Eucharist.
The first year will get underway at the parish and diocesan levels with initiatives such as eucharistic adoration and processions, the development of parish teams of revival leaders and conferences on the Eucharist. The following year there will be regional revival events, leading to the eucharistic congress in Indianapolis in 2024, the first to be held since one took place in 1976 in Philadelphia. It is expected to draw at least 80,000 from across the country.
In the Diocese of Rochester, there will be an opening liturgy and eucharistic procession with Bishop Salvatore R. Matano at 10 a.m. June 19 at Corpus Christi Church, 864 E. Main St., Rochester. The diocese also has a special website dedicated to the Eucharistic Revival at https://eucharisticrevival.dor.org. More information on the diocese’s plans for the revival will be published in the June edition of the Catholic Courier.
A critical moment
The U.S. bishops approved plans for the revival and the congress last November during their fall general assembly in Baltimore. Both are being spearheaded by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, chaired by Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minn.
As chairman of the board of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc., Bishop Cozzens announced Glemkowski’s appointment April 4.
“Tim is a real leader with a heart on fire for Jesus Christ and a desire to invite people to encounter his love in the Eucharist,” Bishop Cozzens said in a statement.
“God is doing something important in his church through this multiyear national eucharistic revival,” Glemkowski said in a statement after his appointment was announced. “At its core, I believe the congress is a critical moment for how we fulfill Pope Francis’ vision of becoming a more missionary church.”
Until he was chosen for his new position, Glemkowski had been working for the Archdiocese of Denver in evangelization and strategy. Before that, he was founding president of the Chicago-based L’Alto Catholic Institute, which works with parishes to meet “the challenges and opportunities” of the new evangelization.
Deepen understanding
Glemkowski sees the revival and the congress as “a milestone moment” for the church and also “a generational moment” that can really change lives.
In his presentation and later in interviews, Bishop Cozzens said the Catholic Church can deepen the faithful’s understanding of the Eucharist with the revival and the congress by remembering that Christ said a lighted lamp does not belong under a bushel basket.
“Set it up on a hill so that people can see it and be attracted to it,” the bishop said. “And I think that’s what we want to do with our teaching on the Eucharist.”
