The Dialog enlisted Millersville University senior, Saint Mark’s High School graduate and St. Patrick’s parishioner Abbey Thibodeau to chronicle the events last week with the Diocese of Wilmington delegation to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. See her story below — a compilation of all her posts on thedialog.org from the five-day trip — and check out her dispatches and photographs from the last week at thedialog.org.
INDIANAPOLIS — Hello, everyone. My name is Abbey Thibodeau. I am a Saint Mark’s High School alumna (class of 2020), and I am a parishioner at St. Patrick’s in Wilmington.
On July 17, 30 people from the diocese arrived at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. The local group was led by Bishop William Koenig and Fathers Joseph W. McQuaide IV, Norman Carroll and Glenn Evers.
A group of young adults, including our seminarians from the diocese, recounted our experience of the congress to you all through the Dialog’s social media platforms as well as written accounts at thedialog.org. Online readers kept up with the updates as we were super elated and very eager for this experience.
Stayed tuned @thedialogwilm on the Dialog’s official Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X).
Local delegation arrives at NEC24
We all safely arrived in Indianapolis for the first day of the congress.
Wednesday was check-in day, along with an evening session at Lucas Oil Stadium. The three emcees for the duration of the congress were Father Josh Johnson, Sister Miriam James, and Montse Alvarado … all well-established speakers in Catholic media.
Worshipping Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament is always surreal, but it is even more powerful with 50,000 people in one stadium all collectively acknowledging the Eucharistic Lord.
A moment in particular Wednesday was when Sister Bethany Madonna spoke.
“Sister Bethany was super relatable and easy to listen to, but she also gave a great analogy for the faith encouraging us all that the Christian life requires a struggle, but that very struggle can prepare us for who we are meant to become,” said pilgrim Gianna Procope, another young adult from our diocese in attendance.
It was a grace filled night for us all.
Cardinal DiNardo: ‘Medicine of Immortality’
On Day 2 of the National Eucharistic Congress we kicked off the day by breaking out into our impact sessions.
All of us were able to decipher between different topics and speakers for each morning. This was a great opportunity to explore different ways in which we could be encouraged in the faith.
Barbara Procope, youth minister of St. Peter’s Cathedral, St. Mary’s, and St. Patrick’s, and I attended the ministry tract for the morning and were very encouraged.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston, spoke and referenced the very patristic and ancient nature of the Eucharist. Cardinal DiNardo recalled the life of the father of the church, St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was martyred in the early 2nd century.
St. Ignatius refers to the Eucharist as the “Medicine of Immortality” which is a beautiful contemplation of the power of the Blessed Sacrament.
In the afternoon I took a walk around the expo hall with Father McQuaide, rector of St. Peter’s Cathedral, and Charlie Klous, a parishioner at St. Ann in Wilmington.
We visited various vendors in attendance and look forward to Friday.
Celebrate how Jesus ‘delights in each of us in different ways’
Day three of the National Eucharistic Congress began the best way possible, with the holy sacrifice of Mass.
Witnessing this liturgy was so beautiful, as was being able to bring all of what we received the first two days to our Lord.
Bishop Koenig, Fathers Evers, McQuaide and Carroll from the Diocese of Wilmington all concelebrated the Mass. Our diocese seminarians also had seating on the floor with the rest of the clergy.
We all split out into our impact sessions after Mass as we did yesterday and the talks were beautiful.
A reflection I had was the witness of seeing all of the ways in which the Lord calls each person uniquely to participate in the body of Christ.
As you walk around Indianapolis, you see sisters, priests and religious, families with many children and single people all oriented toward the same Christ. This is so profound to me because of how intentional Christ is, and how he delights in each of us in different ways. I was able to be on the main floor for the distribution of the Eucharist and it was so striking to see all of these unique people with different vocations receiving our Lord.
All of us in the afternoon headed to the expo hall to walk around again, but what was most exciting for pilgrim Hayden Fisher, was to see the Hillbilly Thomists who are a group of Dominicans who make folk music. Fisher is also a parishioner at St. Patrick’s in Wilmington.
Bishop Koenig along with many of the diocesan pilgrims attended a talk by Jason Evert which was very profound. Evert came to speak at my alma mater Saint Mark’s High School many years ago and I still remember how struck I was the first time I heard him speak.
Pilgrim Alex Rock, St. Patrick’s parishioner who was also referenced in The Dialog article done on World Youth Day this past year, expressed how much he enjoyed the Evert talk. As Catholics, it can be hard to reconcile wanting to remain in relationship or friendship with another when they’re struggling or living in opposition to the Gospel. What stuck out to Rock most was when Evert said “We need to hold on to the truth (Jesus Christ), and continue to hold on to the person who’s going astray at the same time.” This is a good conviction and reminder to us to remain gentle with those who aren’t living fully in Christ.
Friday was lovely. We’re all excited for Saturday as it is our last full, packed day. We leave in the afternoon on Sunday.
NEC24 Catholics pray for ‘greater love of Jesus’
Saturday was our last full day of the National Eucharistic Congress and it was a long day.
In the morning, we went to the holy Qurbana, the liturgy of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, one of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with Rome. Seeing the different liturgical expressions and traditions at this congress is beautiful.
Ukrainian Archbishop Borys Gudziak of Philadelphia gave the homily. “The church carries the wounds of the Lord,” Archbishop Gudziak said. “Your wounds carried by Jesus are right now at the hand of the father. With John, put your head at Jesus’ heart, and with John draw close to Mary.” This I found immensely encouraging.
Saturday was also the Eucharistic procession around the city of Indianapolis. We all lined the streets of the path to prepare. Just to keep in mind … there were more than 50,000 people in attendance at this congress, so imagine that all lining the sidewalks and streets in downtown Indianapolis.
Klous reflected on his time at the congress and in particular what we witnessed Saturday.
“The most powerful moment of the congress was the Eucharistic procession. Seeing Jesus glorified through the streets of Indianapolis was enigmatic of what I think the lasting grace of this congress will be: a greater love of Jesus in the Eucharist by all in the church. The amount of people in the procession was astounding and I don’t know if I will ever witness something like that again,” Klous said.
I was personally very moved by the procession. I did not think I was going to be as emotional as I was. I was tired, hungry, and hot due to the weather, but as soon as the procession began, I welled up with tears.
Seeing the brides of Christ, all of the religious sisters, proudly marching before us in the procession, seeing the seminarians and in particular our own seminarians, seeing all of the deacons, priests, our own priests, my pastor, Bishop Koenig along with the rest of the bishops, and all of the cardinals … this was ‘wow.’ I have never had so much pride in my faith than in that moment. Most importantly seeing our Eucharistic Lord being led in the streets of Indianapolis, thousands of people all with different origins coming together in unity, looking up with Christ with reverence and awe, this gave me so much hope for the future of the church in America.
All of the young adults in our group had dinner with Father Joseph W. McQuaide IV and Dan Pin, director of youth, young adult, and family ministry in the diocese.
Concluding the night was a revival session featuring Bishop Robert Barron, founder of “Word on Fire” ministries, as a speaker.
Bishop Barron reminded all of us that “Poverty, chastity, and obedience are meant to be lived out by all Christians … not just those who are religious or consecrated.”
Recalling us to the great St. Thomas Aquinas who spoke “Love is to will the good of the other.” We headed back to our hotel room to get some sleep before the morning.
‘It allowed me to open my heart to the Lord’
Sunday was our last day of the National Eucharistic Congress and it’s been a great time to reflect on all we’ve experienced and all of the different ways we’ve encountered the Lord.
Annalissa Procope, St. Catherine of Siena parishioner, shared some thoughts on the week in Indy. “These past couple of days have truly impacted me and helped me to grow in my faith. Having the privilege to listen to some of the well-known speakers in the Catholic community was amazing. But above all my favorite was being able to have a new appreciation for the Eucharist. Sitting in adoration every night truly has changed my heart and has allowed me to open my heart to the Lord and surrender it all to him. As it is the true flesh of Christ. Watching the priest process through the aisles during adoration led to an overwhelming sense of joy leaving me speechless. The Lord is so good to us.”
This morning we attended the closing Mass in Lucas Oil Stadium celebrated by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle who was sent by our Holy Father Pope Francis to send us his regards and a message.
Cardinal Tagle gave a beautiful homily that perfectly concluded the congress.
We’re all home now.
Thank you for following along.
It has been so lovely to cover this event and bring to you all of the graces we’ve received and include you in our days.
