The upcoming National Eucharistic Revival was born out of U.S. bishops’ desire to increase the faith, understanding, devotion and love of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church in the United States, said Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston. As chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, he is leading the three-year revival, which begins June 19, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.
“Our desire is … to renew the Church by inviting people to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist,” Bishop Cozzens said, and by involving “every level of the Church.”
Bishop Andrew Cozzens
Installed bishop of the Crookston diocese Dec. 6, Bishop Cozzens had previously served as the auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis since 2013. He recently joined Maria Wiering, editor-in-chief of The Catholic Spirit, to discuss the National Eucharistic Revival for the June 9 episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show.
More than 100 dioceses will hold eucharistic processions June 19, Bishop Cozzens said, bringing the Blessed Sacrament — Jesus — “to the streets of our country, out of the doors of the church, as Pope Francis has encouraged us, to the peripheries to allow people to experience our eucharistic devotion,” Bishop Cozzens said. That includes processing along a lake in Bemidji in the Crookston diocese, and around the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul following the 10 a.m. Mass that day.
The revival’s second year will focus on renewing the eucharistic life of the parish, Bishop Cozzens said, through initiatives such as study groups on the Eucharist, he said.
“Our own study has shown … a high percentage of people … sitting in the pew most Sundays (who) don’t fully understand who Jesus is in the Eucharist and the power of the Eucharist to transform a life,” Bishop Cozzens said. “So, we want to help our own Catholics understand that and really reach out to the smallest-level small groups and families in that second year of the revival,” which will culminate in a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, where an anticipated 80,000 to 100,000 people might attend, he said.
Bishop Cozzens said he hopes the congress attracts Catholics of all nationalities, cultures and ages. He said it will be an opportunity for great speakers, prayer, training, evangelization and inspiration, “knowing that as we lift up Jesus, he will draw people to himself.” The last such Congress, although international, had Mother Teresa and Karol Wojtyla (later Pope John Paul II) in attendance, he noted.
The third year is “the missionary year,” Bishop Cozzens said. Its goal is to help the Church enter that missionary conversion that Pope Francis has been asking for since the first days of his pontificate, Bishop Cozzens said, sharing the truth, beauty and goodness of the Eucharist with non-Catholics, those who don’t yet know Jesus, especially those with no religious affiliation or who have disaffiliated from the Catholic Church.
The Eucharist tells us who we are, he said. “It makes us the Church. It makes us the body of Christ. And so we need to focus on our identity so that we’re ready then to be sent in mission.”
To learn more details about the revival, listen to the full interview with Bishop Cozzens, which debuts on “Practicing Catholic” 9 p.m. June 10 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM and repeats 1 p.m. June 11 and 2 p.m. June 12.
To sign up as a member of the National Eucharistic Revival, view resources, receive a weekly newsletter and sign up to be a prayer partner “to cover the revival in prayer,” visit EucharisticRevival.org. To learn more about the local kickoff of the Eucharistic Revival June 19 at the Cathedral of St. Paul, visit archspm.org/events.
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