The Dialog enlisted Millersville University senior, Saint Mark’s High School product and St. Patrick’s parishioner Abbey Thibodeau to chronicle the events this week of the Diocese of Wilmington delegation to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. Look for her dispatches from Indy and photos online and on social media this week as the event runs July 17-21.
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 53,000 people in attendance at this congress, so imagine that all lining the sidewalks and streets in downtown Indianapolis.
Charlie Klous, pilgrim and St. Ann’s of Wilmington parishioner, 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 get some sleep before the morning.
