Faithful from across the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland are invited to join the diocesan launch of the multi-year National Eucharistic Revival on June 11.
Auxiliary Bishop-elect Michael Woost will celebrate 4:30 p.m. Mass in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist to kick off the revival here. The Mass will be livestreamed on the diocesan website. Father Damian Ference will be the homilist.
After Mass, the faithful are encouraged to join a Eucharistic procession from the cathedral to St. Peter Church at East 17th Street and Superior Avenue. The Eucharist will be carried in a monstrance as the worshipers walk, pray and sing during the procession along Superior to St. Peter’s.
Once the procession reaches the church, the Eucharist will be displayed in the monstrance for XLT, a time of worship and adoration with music, prayer and preaching. Bishop-elect Woost will preside and preach at XLT.
An outdoor cookout and social will follow XLT.
Bishop Edward Malesic appointed Father Ference, vicar for evangelization and head of the Office for Parish Life and Special Ministries, and Lynette Saenz, assistant director of Parish Life and Special Ministries, as co-directors of the diocesan revival.
The National Eucharistic Revival is a movement of Catholics sharing the reality of Jesus found in the Eucharist. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops called for the initiative to inspire, teach and embrace the gift of the Eucharist. The three-year initiative launches nationwide on June 19, the feast of Corpus Christi with the theme “My Flesh for the Life of the World.”
The USCCB invites Catholics of all ages from across the country to become part of the national movement “to renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.”
A Corpus Christi Novena will take place June 10-18, before the national revival begins.
Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who chairs the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, said the revival would focus on the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. It will culminate with the first National Eucharistic Congress in the U.S. since 1976. About 100,000 Catholics are expected to travel to Indianapolis, Indiana July 17-21, 2024 for the event. Its goal is to animate and strengthen them through a personal encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist.
There are five pillars of the national revival:
- Foster encounters with Jesus through kerygmatic proclamation and experiences of Eucharistic devotion.
- Contemplate and proclaim the doctrine of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist through the truth of the Church's teaching, the beauty of the Church's worship and the goodness of a life of service.
- Empower grassroots creativity by partnering with movements, apostolates, educational institutions and parishes.
- Reach the smallest unit: parish small groups and families.
- Embrace and learn from the various rich intercultural Eucharistic traditions.
“Right now, the Church in the United States needs the healing and the unity that can flow from rekindling our love for the Eucharist. We need to rekindle the love of our people so they can become missionaries and reach out to the margins as we are called to do by Pope Francis’ 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti,” Bishop Cozzens said.
The USCCB Evangelization Committee began planning for a National Eucharistic Revival after a 2019 Pew Research study indicated that up to 69% of Catholics don’t believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. Planning was delayed due to COVID-19 limitations, and Bishop Cozzens cited the impact the pandemic has had on Catholics as another reason for initiating a National Revival at this time.
“We hope at the end of these three years, we will have formed and sent more than 100,000 missionaries who are ready to share the love of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist with our world,” Bishop Cozzens said.
Father Ference and Saenz said additional events would take place throughout the diocese during the three-year revival.
For more information on the national revival, click here.