Archdiocese of Miami Catholics gather in Indianapolis for “big Catholic block party”

By Angelique Ruhi-Lopez - Florida Catholic

INDIANAPOLIS | Roseanne Sherman had every reason not to attend the National Eucharistic Congress (NEC) in Indianapolis July 17-21, 2024.

A Catholic convert and recent graduate of St. Thomas University’s (STU) School of Law and current Master of Laws in Intercultural Human Rights (LL.M.) student at STU, Sherman has been busy studying and preparing to take the hours-long Florida Bar Exam during the last days of July. Plus, she’s in her second trimester of pregnancy and had been recently hospitalized.

“The worldly logic and reason is to put your career first, your own wants and desires first, and that’s totally opposite of what our faith teaches us, which is putting God first in your life. That’s what I decided to do,” said Sherman, a former Protestant who joined the Catholic Church in 2019 when she fell in love with the Mass.

Despite the obstacles, Sherman still felt strongly called to attend the NEC, and with her family’s support, was one of 18 students who attended the NEC representing STU – and one of hundreds of pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Miami who made the pilgrimage to Indianapolis to participate in this historic event.

“I went with the idea that I’m just going to spend some time with Jesus in adoration, I don’t need anything in particular, just going to ask for wisdom for the Bar exam and the graces to be a good Mom, but the first night at adoration I was totally sobbing and I didn’t realize with all the craziness of the past few months I needed a lot of healing that I didn’t even know I needed,” said Sherman. “I have no regrets going and so glad I did.”

Bishops’ clarion call

The idea for the National Eucharistic Congress was born when the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) grew concerned after a 2019 Pew Research Center study showed that belief in the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist among Catholics had plummeted to less than one-third.

As a result, the bishops convoked the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year grassroots renewal of the Church spanning from 2022 to 2025 and called for a national congress in 2024 to “experience a new Pentecost and anoint participants for the Year of Mission to come.”

And when the bishops called, the faithful answered in droves: up to 60,000 people attended the NEC, representing all 50 U.S. states, 17 countries, and more than 40 languages spoken.

“People are feeling invigorated by it. In a parish, you can adopt a silo mentality, but our Catholic Church is bigger than our parish. This National Eucharistic Congress is a good way to make real that we are members of the mystical body of Christ,” said Archbishop Thomas Wenski, who, together with Bishop Enrique Delgado, accompanied a group of 40 pilgrims from the archdiocese.

The group led by the archbishop was comprised of 5 priests, 3 deacons, 1 aspiring deacon in formation, and lay parishioners from 15 parishes, schools and ministries, including Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of Christ, St. Rose of Lima, St. Mark, St. Ann Mission, St. Martha, Blessed Trinity, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Louis, St. Edward, St. Sebastian, St. Thomas University and Camino del Matrimonio. A number of other parishes in the archdiocese also brought their own groups, and some South Floridians attended on their own.

The line to register and pick up their congress passes reached up to three hours on the first day of the congress, but those in line waited patiently, made new friends from other states, prayed the rosary, greeted Catholic college mascots and listened to Catholic musicians who spontaneously performed to help pass the time.

“I have never stood in such a happy line and it’s because of the joy of Christ Jesus inside everyone’s hearts,” said Ocilia Rodriguez Vega, who attended the NEC with a group of 47 parishioners from Prince of Peace Church in Miami, as well as with her son, Eric Rodriguez, who traveled from Ohio to attend.

“I came for the encounter with Christ and to be together with the Church in this country. It’s been beautiful, it’s one big Catholic block party,” said Father Andrew Tomonto, parochial administrator at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Coral Springs. “We have lost a sense of the spiritual reality and understanding that the body of Christ receives the Body of Christ. Everyone talks about the Church being polarized and divided. The solution is the Eucharist.”

Meeting many needs

The conference featured a variety of different tracks that met participants’ spiritual and ministry needs. The Encounter/Encuentro tracks, in English and Spanish respectively, focused on a deeper understanding of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The Empower track was for those who desired practical tools to become Eucharistic missionaries. The Renewal path, geared toward ministry, parish and diocesan leaders, helped ministers overcome challenges and avoid burnout. The Cultivate track featured activities, talks and prayers geared toward families with young children to strengthen the domestic church. The youth experience, Awaken, empowered high school students to evangelize in their community, schools and the culture. Finally, the Abide track invited priests and bishops to experience renewal and deepen their relationship with the Eucharistic Christ.

Sherman attended the Encounter track and said she learned many new things about her faith.

“There were a lot of talks about how the Eucharist can bring more people into the faith and understanding the Eucharist more in detail. One priest went into the science of the miracles of the Eucharist. I definitely want to share what I learned and bring some friends to adoration that have fallen away from the church,” Sherman said, adding that she and her husband regularly invite fallen away Catholics over for dinner, to pray a rosary and to go to Mass together.

Gabriel Cambert and his wife, Jenny, opted to attend the Renewal track.

“One of the things that impacted me most was something mentioned by our Renewal track emcee, Mari Pablo, who asked us to reflect on whether we were being channels or reservoirs of God’s grace: channels that simply allow what we received to flow through us but never fill us, or reservoirs who allow ourselves to get full and then overflow into others. This theme helped me reflect on the areas of my life and ministry where I may be needing to work more on my relationship with God,” said Cambert, Archdiocese of Miami Department of Catholic School’s Associate Superintendent for Government Programs and parishioner at Blessed Trinity Church in Miami Springs.

Cambert, who together with his wife serve as coordinators of Camino del Matrimonio marriage preparation program, said he’s already brainstorming ways to bring the message of the congress back to his ministries in Miami.

“Some ideas include holding a day of reflection tied to our annual [Camino] leadership training where we present some renewal topics,” he said. “In my ministry to our Catholic Schools, I’ve thought about ways in which our office can incorporate a Eucharistic theme into our annual principals retreat or use a book study to give meditations for the office staff.”

Each day of the Congress started with daily Mass, followed by a series of impact sessions in the morning and breakout sessions in the afternoon that helped expand upon the theme of the day. Each evening would culminate with the whole assembly gathered together at Lucas Oil Stadium for revival sessions, which featured speakers and a variety of musical worship groups ranging from the Gregorian chant men’s vocal ensemble, Floriani, to contemporary Christian artists Matt Maher and Sarah Kroger. Nightly Eucharistic adoration was the pinnacle of the congress, when more than 50,000 faithful fell to their knees to worship Jesus as the lights were dimmed in the stadium and the spotlight was on the Blessed Sacrament.

“It’s incredible that in a place where they usually play football, and with the amount of people there it became so silent and reverent during adoration,” said Kirsy Messina-Acosta, parishioner at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Doral.

Father Hilary Nwainya, assistant professor and director of theology programs at St. Thomas University, agreed.

“The silence was so spiritually loud, you could actually hear the voice of the Lord,” he said. “There were more than 50,000 people in that stadium and yet you could hear the voices of the people across the stadium when we sang out to the Lord in worship. To hear that in a little chapel, you can understand it. But in a stadium? This tells us that the Eucharist is about true communion.”

A new Eucharistic missionary era

In addition to the nightly adoration, a Eucharistic procession through the streets of Indianapolis took place on July 20, 2024. It was a reminder to participants that as they left the Congress, the message of the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist was meant to be shared with the world.

The procession left the Indianapolis Convention Center and proceeded toward the Indiana War Memorial, where Jesus in the monstrance was exposed in the middle of the city and a Eucharistic benediction was imparted by Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Bishop of Crookston, Minnesota and Chairman of the Board of the NEC.

A large delegation from the Archdiocese of Miami participated in the procession, and the almost 50 participants from Prince of Peace Church led the way, carrying flags representing their ministries and countries of origin, including Mexico, Peru and Nicaragua.

“Everyone who came to this congress should commit themselves to becoming a Eucharistic missionary and share the faith experience we had here with our community in Miami,” said Oscar Lopez, parishioner at Prince of Peace.

As they processed, the South Florida delegation excitedly shared their impressions of the congress and their hopes for the future of the Catholic Church in the U.S.

“I feel the presence of God healing,” said Maria Sanchez from St. Edward Church in Pembroke Pines. “For true conversion in our country and this world, we need to start with ourselves and with our own family. After, we have to go and evangelize. This is only the beginning.”

Miami’s own Mother Adela Galindo, founder of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, was tasked with delivering one of the final keynote addresses on Sunday, July 21, 2024, in which she commissioned and sent forth the attendees to become Eucharistic missionaries.

“It’s not only the time to end the Congress, but also to begin it. It is the time to begin a new chapter in our lives, a new chapter in the life of the Church. It is a chapter that we all will write with the power of the Holy Spirit, to be Marian missionaries of the Eucharist with a renewed zeal,” she said during her speech.

“This is such an amazing moment in time for our church to see the faithful come together because of the Eucharist,” said Iris Marrero, who plans to share the message of the congress with those she serves in women’s prayer and retreat ministries at St. Edward Church. “This is an awakening of the faith and is beyond any expectations. I want that anointing to fall afresh on us and for the people to leave here ignited. I can’t wait to see the impact around the nation.”