‘True Presence’: Diocesan Congress attendees bring home the Spirit

[adinserter block=”1″]

Photo above courtesy of Allison Bracht (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton)

By Dc. Tom Cuskey, editor

The Eucharistic Congress held in Indianapolis last week was a monumental event. It’s been more than 80 years since the last national Congress and some 60,000 people from across the country (and probably beyond) attended. 

We don’t know for certain how many from the Diocese of Syracuse were there, but we stayed in contact with a number of them who have contributed their time and talents to share thoughts and photos with you, our Catholic Sun readers. 

So, with gratitude, and in alphabetical order:

Allison and Ryan Bracht, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Baldwinsville

Allison: “It was life changing. Every day there were encounters with people, with speakers, with clergy, who were there to see Jesus. And it was so inspiring, and powerful. It was amazing. On the first day when we attended the very first Mass, it was one of the most powerful things. I was just overcome when I saw over 1000 priests coming in to celebrate the Mass. [It was] extremely hopeful and a powerful thing to see. There was something in the air there that just felt different. And it was exciting. And it was transformative. We kept using a lot of words, you know, with that prefix: ‘re’ …  to return to again and again, to renew, revive. It just felt like our church was alive and well. And, and it was, coming back to life.”

Ryan: “For me, it was the people not in the procession. Speaking of vocations, there were whole sections of that stadium full of seminarians, other religious, all the sisters … [it was] extremely moving and inspiring for me. It is absolutely amazing that this many people came out for this Congress and Eucharistic revival, it was absolutely inspiring to me. I think there’s so many things we can do, and it’s just supporting each other. You know, the hope and love and healing powers the Eucharist has. And I think that one of the bigger takeaways, we’ve heard a lot in church too, is when they end the Mass, and they say, ‘go forth,’ right? Get out of church, go forth, get out and proclaim the Gospel of the Lord.”

Hannah Fitzgerald, St. Mary’s, Cortland

“I am working as a Totus Tuus missionary in the Diocese of Springfield, IL. As part of our mission, the diocese sponsored us to make the pilgrimage to Indianapolis. The thing that impressed me the most was the number of religious sisters, brothers, priests, and seminarians that made the trip to Indianapolis. Being from Cortland, we don’t have many nuns in the area so as a young adult, it’s beautiful to see so many young people joyfully living out a religious vocation.”

Dc Paul Heiland, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Endicott

“I went in with a certain level of faith, and I came out of it with a much deeper appreciation of the reality [of the Eucharist]. It’s not just words.  It was something that was very powerful for me …  my appreciation has grown. I think that for the people who I have spoken to it was. The Lord blessed me with opportunities to share my own faith with people and give to them a little of the charisma that might have been there. And so I was appreciative of the Holy Spirit working in my life in that way. At the moment, we’re formulating that we’ve got work to do to put together the vision, and the vision is to make people aware that the Body of Christ is the real thing. And the way to do that has to be tackled, such that you don’t shame people, but you inspire people so that they have a real belly fire type of desire.” 

Nick Longo, Holy Family, Syracuse

“I wanted to participate in the churches efforts to bring about a Eucharistic Revival in our country. This was unlike any Catholic event I’ve experienced in the past. It seemed to be less about the event itself, but rather focused on the mission.”

Steve and Erin Nowicki, St. Ann’s, Manlius

(Editor’s note: The Nowicki’s completed a seven-day silent retreat prior to heading to Indianapolis to join a crowd of 60,000 people who were typically anything but silent.)

Erin: “I was just amazed, first of all, at the number of people. And because we have so much hope. There were so many young families with beautiful little children and

all of us were worshiping our Lord in the Eucharist. The adoration was it was just amazing and beautiful, being there in the presence in of Jesus, and knowing that 50,000 people are on their knees and loving the Lord. We’re called now to be missionaries, Eucharistic missionaries. And to have that many people hear that message, and to be with the Lord? It’s hopeful.”

Steve: “It was just uplifting, inspiring …  encouraging in the faith, but also challenging … challenging you to go and do something with this. In fact, one of the talks was challenging you to go out and accompany just one person in the next year. It was encouraging, inspiring [and] challenging  you to take it from there. There were many moving moments, too, bringing you to tears with what was said, songs that were sung. One of the most beautiful parts to me was the Eucharistic procession outside. We had to kind of run ahead to the Benediction site, so that we could film it coming toward us and so  we could participate in the Benediction,  And the Eucharist happened to stop in front of us for about 10 minutes. It was just amazing to see that many people on their knees on concrete sidewalks and roads to worship Jesus.”

Eric Rose, St. Mary of the Assumption,  Baldwinsville

“It was a very powerful event, there’s no question, and I didn’t have any expectations going in. About two years ago, my father died. And I was just sent on this quest, on

a spiritual journey … on this journey to deepen my faith. And I went out there not knowing a single person. But I knew that it was going to be a great experience. And it was amazing. It was people asking, where you would just turn to somebody you’ve never seen before and ask them where they’re from? What’s your story? Why are you here? And the conversation would just flow. And the crazy thing is you could tell there were people of different income levels and different races, but it didn’t matter. You’re all the same family. And that was the beauty of it.”

Amy Sullivan, Our Lady of Sorrows, Vestal

I initially wanted to attend the Congress when I saw the number of amazing speakers and people that were going to be there. More importantly, I have attended conferences before like NCYC and knew how wonderful an experience it was to share praise, worship, and Adoration with a large number of people. I knew I wanted to be present and experience that again in even greater numbers and witness this historic event.

I came away from the conference with a renewed love for the Eucharist and a strong conviction that we have to share the love of Jesus and the Eucharist with others. We were reminded so many times during the Congress of the hunger that is in the world and it’s the only the Eucharist that will satisfy that hunger, and with the grace of the Holy Spirit it’s up to us to share that with others.