'Pope of the Eucharist' makes surprise visit to Fort Lauderdale Beach

By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

Photography: TOM TRACY | FC

FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH | Apart from the obviously faux-Italian accent, retired priest Father Medard Laz of Chicago did a pretty good job making a surprise entrance here as the turn-of-the-century “Pope Pius X: The Pope of the Eucharist.”

Father Laz, or rather, Pope Pius X, introduced himself to about 20 members of his namesake parish as a simple Italian of humble background who had a traditional outlook on his Catholic faith. 

“Modernism in the Church essentially means things of the past are irrelevant or no longer meaningful,” he declared. “Only modern things matter. And so I wrote the encyclical ‘Pascendi Dominici Gregis’ (On the Doctrines of the Modernists) to suppress this modernist movement, which I considered a cancerous growth, believing it was a danger to the Catholic Church.”

Pope Pius X, the parishioners would learn, also promoted the rosary, became a patron of those making pilgrimages and would, throughout his pontificate, urge Catholics to seek reconciliation and reception of the Eucharist on a more frequent basis than was common in his time. His papacy lasted from 1903 to 1914. 

The lighthearted enactment of the papal visit, held Aug. 16, 2022, was part of a social event, "Getting to know St. Pius X: The Pope of the Eucharist," designed to illuminate the pope’s life during the three-year Eucharistic Revival that began on Corpus Christi Sunday. 

The revival invites Catholics throughout the Miami Archdiocese, and indeed the country, to deepen their faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. It will culminate nationally in a Eucharistic Congress set for July 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

St. Pius X parishioner – and Let’s Talk blogger – Dolores McDiarmid created the lighthearted event as a simple way to bring people together to study the life of Pope Pius, who is remembered for having a firm demeanor and a reputation for piety and holiness. 

“When I heard we were doing this, I didn’t know much about Pope Pius X, so I did some research from a book I purchased,” McDiarmid said. “It was while I was in eucharistic adoration that I saw in the book that he was the ‘pope of the Eucharist.’ That really drew me into wanting to know more about him especially since now we are in the Eucharistic Revival. So one of my purposes for this evening was to renew our love and our reverence for the real presence of our Lord in the Eucharist.”

McDiarmid said over the last year she has become committed to spending quiet time in the parish adoration chapel every Thursday evening while praying the rosary or delving into spiritual reading. 

“I was away on vacation recently and I really missed my time (there in adoration),” she said. She remembers hearing someone say that “when we sit with the Lord it may seem like nothing is happening but he really is pulling us in. It has been a year now. I have been doing this regularly and I feel the difference, I see the difference.”

Parishioners at the event also competed to complete a quiz that McDiarmid created about Pope Pius’ life – a learning experience to most in attendance. 

Parishioner Barbara Scerbo felt inspired to stand up and tell the group that she thinks more parishioners would have enjoyed the get-together: “This was a major move forward for St. Pius Parish,” she said. 

Father Jean Jadotte, pastor of St. Pius X, said it is an annual tradition for the community to celebrate its patron saint. But this year’s celebration took place within the wider the context of the Eucharistic Revival, and of Father Jadotte’s official installment Aug. 20, 2022, as pastor of the parish.

“As you know during his papacy Pope Pius did so much to promote the Eucharist as the real presence of Christ and also he was the one who allowed children to receive holy Communion early,” the priest said. 

“So we are at this event this evening to remind people how Pope Pius promoted the holy Eucharist as the essential sacrament for our faith, for our lives and our salvation,” Father Jadotte said.

He added that finally, some two and a half years since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the parish seems renewed with the in-person attendance of most, although perhaps not all, of its parishioners. 

“We do have more people in church now at the Sunday Masses,” he said. “Of course, we do have some people who stay at home; and just today I spoke to somebody who since the pandemic hasn’t been in church and who is still watching church online.”

“That is why we believe we need to continue to have events to encourage people to come out,” Father Jadotte said.