Washington, D.C, June 6, 2022—The 2021-2024 strategic plan for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) centers on the theme 'Created Anew by the Body and Blood of Christ, Source of our Healing and Hope,' and a key priority of this plan focuses on a National Eucharistic Revival with the overarching goal of renewing the Catholic Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. To kick off this movement, plans are in motion in hundreds of dioceses and parishes nationwide for Eucharistic processions to take place on the Feast of Corpus Christi, this year being observed on June 19.
The National Eucharistic Revival will have a strategic three-year focus for formation and missionary discipleship beginning at the grassroots level in individual parishes and dioceses along with other Catholic institutions:
The USCCB voted overwhelmingly at its semiannual general assembly in November 2021 to advance plans for a National Eucharistic Revival. The National Eucharistic Congress will be the first one in the United States in almost 50 years and expects to draw more than 80,000 Catholics, by way of pilgrimage, into an event of preparation, equipping the faithful as “Eucharistic missionaries” to go out to the existential and physical margins of society emboldened with the flame of divine charity to be the hands, feet, and heart of Christ in the world.
Acknowledging the troubling 2019 Pew Research Study which indicated that 70% of Catholics don’t believe in the Real Presence, Bishop Andrew Cozzens, appointed Chairman of the Board of the National Eucharistic Congress, affirms the timing of the Revival. “We are really aware in these times that we live that the Church needs to become more missionary. The culture itself doesn’t support what we do anymore as Catholics,” Cozzens notes. “All Catholics are invited into a renewed encounter with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, especially those Catholics who don’t fully understand the power of the Eucharist.” As people are seeking deeper connection more than ever before, “this is a time not to be ashamed of the Gospel but to proclaim it from the rooftops.”
Dioceses and parishes around the country are aiming to make that proclamation public with organized Eucharistic processions on the Feast of Corpus Christi to inaugurate the Revival. Large-scaled processions are planned in hundreds of dioceses including the Diocese of Fall River, MA, Detroit, MI, Los Angeles, CA, and even along Lake Bemidji in Bishop Cozzens’ home Diocese of Crookston, MN.
“The Eucharist is the gateway key to the civilization of love that we long to create. Jesus promised that he would be truly present in the sacrament of the altar–but also in the flesh and blood of our neighbors, especially those who are poor and suffering,” remarks Archbishop Jose Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles. “If we ever hope to end human indifference and social injustice, then we need to revive this sacramental awareness. In every human person we meet– from the infant in the womb to our elderly parents drawing their dying breaths–we must see the image of the living God.”
Individuals are encouraged to Join the Revival by signing up for a weekly newsletter, kicking off the week of June 19, for inspiration, testimonies, Eucharistic teachings, and news associated with National Eucharistic Revival events, including how to register for the Congress in 2024. More ways to support the Revival and get involved via prayer, fasting, and penance may be found here.
For more information and a complete press kit, visit eucharisticrevival.org/press/.
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The mission of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is “to support the ministry of bishops with an emphasis on evangelization, by which the bishops exercise in a communal and collegial manner certain pastoral functions entrusted to them by the Lord Jesus of sanctifying, teaching, and governing (see Lumen gentium, no. 21).” Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens is the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Crookston, MN, and serves as the Chairman for the Board of Directors for the National Eucharistic Congress, Inc.
