An estimated 700 St. Louis Catholics join tens of thousands of people for event in Indianapolis
Catholics attending the 10th National Eucharistic Congress seek to be transformed into “true missionary disciples,” Bishop Andrew Cozzens told tens of thousands of people who gathered for the opening night on July 17.
An estimated 700 Catholics from the Archdiocese of St. Louis were expected to travel to Indianapolis for the July 17-21 congress, held at the Indiana Convention Center and adjacent Lucas Oil Stadium. More than 50,000 were registered as attendees, representing all 50 states, 17 countries and 43 languages.
The congress started with a eucharistic procession into Lucas Oil Stadium, led by Bishop Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota. The Holy Hour was followed by revival speakers, including Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, and Sister Bethany Madonna, the Sisters of Life’s local superior and mission coordinator in Phoenix.
“Lord, we tried to share with everyone we met along the way your unspeakable love,” he said. “We had only one desire: that they would know what we know, Lord, your presence here.”
While we are here to give Jesus thanks and praise, we’ve also “come here to be changed, to be transformed into true missionary disciples,” Bishop Cozzens said. “Teach us how to be your missionaries, how to bring your light to the world.”
Bill and Phyllis Luehrmann of Most Sacred Heart Parish in Eureka were part of a busload of pilgrims from the Archdiocese of St. Louis who departed July 17 from the Cardinal Rigali Center in Shrewsbury for Indianapolis.
The Luehrmanns previously lived in Los Angeles and for years had attended the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, California. The couple said large-scale events like that and the Eucharistic Congress showcase the Church’s unity. Both looked forward to meeting other Catholics and learning what brought them to the congress.
“When we all gather together as Catholics, we are all one in our faith,” Phyllis Luehrmann said. “It’s an opportunity for us to meet other people, to see other people, to share with other people the passion of Jesus. And not to be afraid to mention His name, to talk about Him, to pray, to go to confession, to sit in adoration — to do all the things that make us Catholic and closer to Jesus.”
More than a dozen seminarians from Kenrick-Glennon Seminary attending the congress said they were moved by the overwhelming silence of tens of thousands of people in adoration the first evening.
The moment was impactful in the sense that it showed a slice of the universal Church, where Jesus’ Real Presence commanded the attention of a large number of Catholics who were there to worship and love Him more deeply.
“It’s so important as seminarians and priests to have ourselves enter an intimate relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist and to first spend time there,” seminarian Michael Laugeman said. “We can’t give what we don’t have. And to let that love be a contagious love where people can tell.”
Seminarian John Paul Angeli hopes to return to St. Louis with a renewed love for the Eucharist and to encourage others to do the same. “I hope people in their daily lives come to incorporate being with Jesus in the Eucharist and (to pray) deeply with that,” he said. “As a seminarian, it’s learning that myself — realizing that the Lord’s always teaching me (to go) deeper and deeper and then helping to teach people that.”
