National Eucharistic Revival to begin next year, includes 2024 national event ‘to light a fire’

Catholics can expect added emphasis on the Eucharist at all levels of the Church in the United States beginning next summer, culminating in a large-scale national event in 2024.

Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens of St. Paul and Minneapolis, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, detailed a three-year “National Eucharistic Revival” initiative and announced plans for a national event in his June 18 committee update at the U.S. bishops’ Spring General Assembly.

Called a “Eucharistic Revival: My Flesh for the Life of the World,” the initiative aims to “renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the holy Eucharist,” Bishop Cozzens said.

The revival is part of the U.S. bishops’ three-year strategic plan approved in November. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops discussed the Revival in regional meetings in November, Bishop Cozzens said, noting that while some bishops expressed reservations about a national event, “many called it a ‘providential’ moment for us.”

Bishop Cozzens described the Revival as “a movement of Catholics across the United States, healed, converted, formed and unified by an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist — and sent out in mission for the life of the world.”

“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,” he said.

The Revival is designed to impact every level of the Church, from the home and parish to the national stage. It is scheduled to begin next summer with a yearlong Diocesan Revival focused on “forming and engaging renewal movements and apostolates to provide events in every diocese,” Bishop Cozzens said. That year will include a national corps of eucharistic preachers available to speak at diocesan and regional events, formation events for priests and diocesan leaders, and online training to form lay “eucharistic missionaries” for parish revival.

“Dioceses could have Corpus Christi celebrations, days of adoration and reconciliation, as well as days of eucharistic evangelization and service,” Bishop Cozzens said in his presentation.

The second year would involve parishes and include small groups and training of eucharistic missionaries, which Bishop Cozzens described as “parish lay leaders who could help to organize and carry out the revival at the parish level, sent forth to evangelize and serve those in need.”

The third year will include the national event, followed by efforts to “animate and strengthen those missionaries who return to their diocese and parishes” and the sending of those missionaries “out to the margins to invite people into our eucharistic communities,” Bishop Cozzens said.

Discussion of a National Eucharistic Revival began under Bishop Robert Barron, an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, who was chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis from 2017-2020. It was prompted in part by a 2019 Pew Research study that found 69% of Catholics don’t believe the Church’s teaching that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.

The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the Revival’s planning, but it also deepened the need for it, Bishop Cozzens said, as its impact on Catholics’ post-pandemic Mass attendance is still unclear. Additionally, Church leaders “are aware of the need to the religiously unaffiliated and to prevent further disaffiliation,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said, the Church has a 200-year history of rekindling Catholics’ love for the gift of the Eucharist through Eucharistic Congresses, including two International Eucharistic Congresses held in the United States, in Chicago in 1926 and Philadelphia in 1976. National Eucharistic Congresses were also held frequently throughout the United States in the first part of the 20th century, and some dioceses continue to hold local congresses.

“Right now, the Church in the United States needs the healing and the unity that can flow from rekindling our love for the Eucharist,” Bishop Cozzens said. “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 ‘Fratelli Tutti’,” Pope Francis’ 2020 encyclical.

The plan for the Revival includes five pillars: to foster encounters with Jesus through kerygmatic proclamation and experiences of eucharistic devotion; to contemplate and proclaim the doctrine of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist through the truth of the Church’s teaching, beauty of the Church’s worship and goodness of a life of service; to empower grassroots creativity by partnering with movements, apostolates, educational institutions and parishes; to reach the smallest unit: parish small groups and families; and to embrace and learn from the various rich intercultural eucharistic traditions.

“This is not simply about good teaching, but about encountering the living person of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Cozzens said. “We want to provide transformational experiences that allow that true encounter.”

He emphasized that a plan for the Revival has been developed in consultation with diocesan and parish leaders, theologians and evangelistic leaders.

“I can tell you that the proposal for a National Eucharistic Revival has been met with incredible enthusiasm at every level,” he said.

The Revival’s national event is key to making the Revival a national movement, Bishop Cozzens said.

“With this national event, it becomes a pilgrimage that we are making together and it creates the sense that the whole country is a part of this revival,” he said.

Bishop Cozzens said the Revival process would imitate the V Encuentro process, an initiative that took place from 2015-2018 in the U.S. Catholic Church on ministry to Latino and Hispanic Catholics, by aiming to reach Catholics on all levels of the Church.

However, “leaders from the around the country have encouraged us to think of more than just an opportunity to train and form leaders. We did that well at the National Convocation (in Orlando in 2017) and certainly the Encuentro,” he said. “Rather, they’ve encouraged us to think of a larger, more missionary event, that would be more like a Eucharistic Congress, more like the World Meeting of Families or World Youth Day. This kind of event could start a missionary fire across our country when 100,000 people come together to encounter Christ in the Eucharist and be sent out on mission.”

The Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis will seek approval for a plan for the national event at the bishops’ November meeting, Bishop Cozzens said.

He asked his fellow bishops to renew their own love for the Eucharist, such as through daily Holy Hours.

“As I’ve been praying about this event and sensing the Holy Spirit wants this event, I believe that this Revival is a spiritual movement. It’s a movement of love and unity that’s needed in our country today, but for this revival to be a success, it needs to begin with us,” he said.

Bishop Cozzens’ video presentation for the bishops was pre-recorded for the General Assembly, which was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The details for a National Eucharistic Revival come amid the bishops’ discussion about drafting a formal statement on the role of the Eucharist in the life of the Church. The proposed document has drawn controversy and disagreement among the bishops because of a section that would address “eucharistic coherence” and reception of the Eucharist by Catholics who have taken public stances against Church teachings.

The bishops voted June 17 to move forward with the drafting of the document, which is expected to be reviewed and discussed at the bishops’ Fall General Assembly in Baltimore in November. During the bishops’ discussion about the proposed document, several connected it to the National Eucharistic Revival as a complementary project. Some dioceses, such as the Archdiocese of Baltimore, are already preparing their own Eucharist-focused efforts in the next year.

In a 33-minute live discussion of the National Eucharistic Revival following Bishop Cozzens’ update, bishops shared their enthusiasm about the plan but asked about more strongly connecting the Eucharist to the proclamation of the Word of God, well-celebrated liturgies and the sacrament of penance; adding regional events to the Revival timeline; and about the Revival’s potential relationship to the synod process Pope Francis has requested of dioceses worldwide.

Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento said that the connection between the Eucharist and Catholic charity should not be “underestimated” in the Revival. Bishop Oscar Cantú of San José stressed the importance of drawing leaders from different cultures within the U.S. Church.

Archbishop George J. Lucas of Omaha affirmed the plan and emphasized the Revival’s need for evangelization, including among Catholics who are active in the Church but have never experienced a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. He also asked whether the bishops’ methods for the Revival might be enhanced by more research about why some Catholics don’t believe in the Real Presence, what approach would be most effective in reaching those Catholics, and how to measure the Revival’s impact.

Bishop Barron asked if the Revival could begin sooner than 2022. “I’m so enthusiastic about it, I’d like to see it get kicked off as soon as possible,” he said.

Bishop Cozzens said his committee could make some resources available this year, and said dioceses don’t need to wait until the Revival formally starts next summer to move forward with efforts to renew eucharistic devotion and understanding.

“The way I’ve been thinking about this is, we’re lighting a fire rather than starting a program,” he said. “If dioceses are ready to go this year with a eucharistic revival, and they feel the need, please go, and we’ll come in behind you with all kinds of support.”

After receiving the feedback, Bishop Cozzens thanked the bishops and asked them to pray for the Revival.

“I really believe this is a movement of the Holy Spirit and pray that the Holy Spirit will do work in our country that will bring great renewal,” he said.