As the three-year National Eucharistic Revival draws to a close, an exciting new initiative is being offered to the faithful.
The Revival offers Catholics the opportunity to become “officially” commissioned Eucharistic Missionaries through participation in a brief five-week online formation series. Participants will learn how to take their Catholic and Eucharistic Faith, live it out even more effectively, and share it with their families, friends, and neighbors, armed with the education – and courage – they may need to do so.
Bishop Frank J. Dewane wrote a May 6, 2024, letter to the priests of the Diocese encouraging the promotion of this opportunity. “Isn’t this what the Eucharistic Revival is all about? After three years of renewed understanding and reverence for Jesus’s Real Presence, the time has come to go forth, to share the good news of our Eucharistic Lord with the world, to evangelize!”
The series’ weekly sessions begin Sunday, May 18, and will conclude with a special commissioning prayer on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ (Corpus Christi), Sunday, June 22.
The National Eucharistic Revival is an initiative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to promote the devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Since June 2022, the Revival has included a Diocesan phase, a Parish phase and now a missionary phase. During this time, Bishop Dewane has hosted three Conferences, one each year of the Revival. Each of the gatherings included thousands of the faithful, who attended to hear internationally renowned speakers, celebrate Mass with Bishop Dewane, participate in Eucharistic Adoration, and share their faith together.
The Revival is not a program, but a movement that is the joyful, expectant, grassroots response of the Church in the United States to the divine invitation to be united once again around the source and summit of our faith in the celebration of the Eucharist.
Since that time, the results have been extraordinary, most importantly with Eucharistic Adoration opportunities and availability increasing. There has also been increased attention to catechesis on the Real Presence, more frequent Eucharistic Processions and Devotions throughout the Diocese.
Bishop Dewane concluded his letter to the priests stating this is a unique opportunity for parishioners, and how they should be “heartily encouraged” to take part in this final phase of the National Eucharistic Revival, “which will empower them to evangelize as true, commissioned Eucharistic Missionaries!”
