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July 17, 2024By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
Some local Catholics are attending the July 17-21 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis – or doing something closer to home in connection with it.
Tuesday Lucas Lima, a Brazilian community leader, told The Catholic Free Press by telephone that their group had just arrived for the Congress.
“We rented out a whole house – an Airbnb” to stay in, he said.
Mission Make Me Holy took 16 people, seven of them from the Worcester diocese – from St. Joseph and St. Stephen Parish in Worcester or St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Milford. One is 32, one is 44, and the rest are 25 years old or younger, he said.
“We think it’s important to partake in this moment of eucharistic revival because … what touches the hearts of the youth is the Eucharist,” he said. “The Eucharist brings conversions. ... Mission Make Me Holy began because of the Eucharist, so it’s part of our charisma to seek Jesus in the Eucharist.”
Mission Make Me Holy is a program started at St. Joseph and St. Stephen last year to provide spiritual formation and education in the faith to youth leaders and prospective youth leaders from the parish and beyond. Mr. Lima, 25, is one of its leaders.
Local opportunities to focus on Jesus, present in the Blessed Sacrament, are also available.
During the Congress, periods of eucharistic adoration and prayer are to be offered at Blessed Sacrament Parish at 555 Pleasant St. in Worcester. Father Thomas G. Landry, pastor, explained the plans in a letter in the July 14 Sunday bulletin.
“We are called, like the prophet, to hear and to speak in God’s name,” he wrote. “As people of Word and sacrament, we are privileged to hear of the wonder of God’s presence and action in the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament. Thousands of men, women, and youngsters are completing their pilgrimage to Indianapolis to participate in the National Eucharistic Congress. It was my privilege to experience the International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia in 1976 while I was in college.”
He said Blessed Sacrament’s schedule “coincides with the days our sisters and brothers will gather ... not a particularly high energy experience here, but a time to say from our own hearts what we proclaim. Come when and for as long as you can.”
The schedule is as follows.
July 17-19 (Wednesday-Friday):
8:30 a.m. Mass, followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
12 noon Praying of the Rosary
6:30 p.m. evening prayer, Benediction and Reposition of the Blessed Sacrament
July 20 (Saturday):
4 p.m. Mass, followed by exposition; evening prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.
July 21 (Sunday):
10 a.m. Mass, followed by exposition; evening prayer and Benediction at 6:30 p.m.
Our Lady of Vilna Parish in Worcester is to connect with the Congress during a pilgrimage to The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro, according to the pastor, Father Peter Tam M. Bui. He said he and his parishioners are joining Vietnamese from around New England at the shrine on July 26 and 27, the weekend after the Congress.
This is the 42nd year of this Marian pilgrimage, he said. Last year he suggested to other pilgrimage organizers that they hold a eucharistic procession in conjunction with the National Eucharistic Revival, and he led a simple procession. People found it so meaningful that they wanted to do it again.
This year he and his parish are in charge of the July 26 eucharistic night, for which there will be adoration and a more elaborate candlelight procession with the Blessed Sacrament, he said.
He plans to inform participants that they will be joining with the National Eucharistic Congress “in spirit,” even though it will be over by then. He said he wants to highlight the Real Presence of Christ in Eucharist and its importance in bringing Catholics, especially youth, back to the Church.
