A young Daniel Thomas once sat in a pew at Mass and noticed his father striking his breast and saying, “My Lord and my God,” at the consecration.
That was the Toledo bishop’s earliest memory of coming to understand the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
Those words, spoken by the apostle Thomas after Jesus’ resurrection, are included on the bishop’s personal coat of arms.
Bishop Thomas also used the biblical story in the impact session he gave Friday afternoon to some of the 60,000 Catholics gathered in Indianapolis for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, the first in nearly a century. He and Sister Mercy Marie spoke about the mercy shown in the Eucharist, especially as it relates to abortion. Come November, Bishop Thomas will head the Committee on Pro-Life Activities for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for a three-year term.
“He did a great job of tying that into the Eucharist,” said Pat Oedy-Murray, the Eucharistic Revival point person for the Diocese of Toledo. “What it means to have faith, even though, under the appearance of bread and wine, that’s what we see, but to have the faith to know this is really the body and blood of Christ.”
Around 300 clergy, religious, and lay faithful from across the diocese last week attended the congress, which is part of the ongoing three-year National Eucharistic Revival. U.S. bishops launched the movement in 2022 in response to the oft-cited Pew Research finding that only one-third of U.S. Catholics believe in the church’s teaching that Jesus is present in the Eucharist. A more recent report out of Georgetown University found that nearly two-thirds of Catholics believe in the real presence.
Bishop Thomas before the trip expressed his hope that the experience in Indianapolis would reignite people’s relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist, and that, upon their return, “we can all be more deeply in love with the Lord and with our neighbor as a result of our entering more deeply into the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.”
Assembling the masses
Area attendees said Monday that they were struck by the sheer number of pilgrims who converged for the congress.
“All I can say is, ‘Wow,’” said Barry McCullough, a parishioner at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Lima. “It was incredibly overwhelming to see that many people there for the same reason.”
Alexander Cherry, a rising senior at Central Catholic High School, said he was initially in awe at the tens of thousands of worshippers who filled Lucas Oil Stadium for nightly adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. But he later shifted his perspective.
“It really does seem like a little piece of heaven,” the student said. “As Catholics, we believe there is unity in the Eucharist, and there will be a perfect unity with each other and with God in heaven.
“By the end ... I started thinking about this group as the fraction,” he continued. “This is the smallest portion of a larger whole.”
The Rev. Kevin Moebius, the new priest leader at Central Catholic, spoke similarly of the last day of the congress. He said there were 1,000 priests and 200 bishops at the final Mass and a full stadium at the last day of adoration.
“You could hear a pin drop, and you have 60,000 people completely, totally focused on the Eucharist in the middle of the room,” Father Moebius said. “It really did feel like heaven. There was a sense of being around all these holy people who are on the same mission.”
Pilgrims spanned every age, vocation, and stage of life: seminarians and religious sisters to students and babies. Bishop Thomas described the attendance as a representation or “microcosm” of the whole diocese. McCullough added that seeing so many people excited for their faith “[makes] you realize that the Catholic Church is universal; it’s for all.”
Going out
The congress intended to be an opportunity for U.S. Catholics to learn and experience their faith in order to take it back to their parishes and people around them, Oedy-Murray said. But before they could do that, they served as a witness to the people of Indianapolis.
From signs and statues to a sea of lanyards and a Eucharistic procession through the streets, McCullough said, “You couldn’t ignore what was going on.”
“When you have that public witness, especially from our youth, I think it calls people to conversion because it's inspiring, and it draws out hope in the future,” Father Moebius said.
The Eucharistic Congress comes down to a call to evangelize and spread the power of the Eucharistic Revival, he added.
The Rev. Joseph Mominee, parochial vicar at St. Joseph Parish in Sylvania, said he hopes pilgrims from his parish will return and share with him and other parishioners what they took away, both spiritually and intellectually, from the congress.
In order to “unite with the efforts in Indianapolis,” Father Mominee decided to offer continuous Eucharistic adoration in the church for the duration of the Indianapolis event. More than 100 individuals signed up for time slots every hour between July 17 and Sunday.
Next month, the Catholic bishops of Ohio will lead a statewide Eucharistic pilgrimage to the Basilica & National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio. The Aug. 14 event will include a candlelight rosary procession at 9 p.m. from the basilica to the outdoor shrine park and a nighttime Mass.
The national congress and statewide pilgrimage mark the National Eucharistic Revival’s third year, which is focused on going out on mission.
“Our pilgrimage at Carey is meant to literally be a sign of this going out on mission,” Bishop Thomas said. “Mary, our Lady, is the first pilgrim and it is she whose mission was to literally, physically bring Jesus to the world.”
The first year of the revival focused on diocese-wide initiatives and the second year focused on individual parishes.
“It's not like a three-year program and now we're done,” said Oedy-Murray, who will continue to work with parishes across the diocese to carry on the momentum of the revival. “It's really the beginning of kind of re-emphasizing the Eucharist as the source and summit of our faith.”
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