By Megan Erbacher
The Message editor
During his homily on the morning of July 18 in Lucas Oil Stadium, the first full day of the 10th National Eucharist Congress in downtown Indianapolis, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York, repeated a phrase from Pope Francis: “‘No Eucharist, no church.’”
Cardinal Dolan’s homily reflected on “The Bread of Life Discourse” from John 6. Cardinal Dolan served as the principal celebrant of Mass in the stadium July 18, with organizers estimating around 100 bishops, including Diocese of Evansville Bishop Joseph M. Siegel, numerous cardinals and hundreds of priests concelebrated.
The theme for the second day of the five-day Congress was: “The Greatest Love Story.” Participants were invited into an “intimate relationship” with Jesus Christ. Responding to this call in the Eucharist, the faithful uncovered “how the story of our lives can be truly understood within the context of salvation history — the greatest love story ever told.”
After Mass, which was offered in multiple locations and in Spanish, attendees chose one of seven Impact sessions held in Lucas Oil or the Indiana Convention Center. These sessions featured “dynamic preaching and music tailored to their state in life and mission.”
Sarah Kroger, a GMA Dove Award-nominated artist, songwriter and worship leader, kicked off the morning Impact session, Encounter, in Lucas Oil Stadium with her band. Encounter included Katie Prejean McGrady as the emcee; two Sisters of Life, Sister Mary Grace Langrell and Sister Marie Veritas; and Monsignor James Shea.
Prejean McGrady is a speaker, award-winning author and host of The Katie McGrady Show on The Catholic Channel on Sirius XM. She welcomed everyone and said the Congress started July 17 with the “biggest monstrance I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”
“I’m so excited to be with you in an NFL football stadium praising the Lord,” she said. “What a gift it is to be here together. … It’s so great to pray as a family, amen.
“I think what the Lord wants to do in our lives — especially at something like this, where we literally fill a stadium full of people to pray and to worship and celebrate our faith — God wants to take our expectations and exceed them. In a lot of ways, he wants to surprise us.”
Prejean McGrady interviewed Sisters of Life Sister Mary Grace and Sisters of Life Sister Marie, who both shared their vocation stories and spoke about the Eucharist.
Sister Mary Grace grew up in Sydney, Australia, and joined the Sisters of Life in 2013. She admitted becoming a sister was the “biggest surprise to me.”
“I did not anticipate this,” she explained.
Sister Mary Grace said when she was 18 and the Sisters of Life visited her city, her “life changed forever.”
“It was the first time I saw women in love with God,” she said. “I did not know Jesus like that.”
Sister Mary Grace said it’s true that Jesus is the source and summit of our faith, but he’s also everything in between — he’s our source and sustenance. She said we need to allow the “Eucharistic Jesus to be with us wherever we are right now — whether that’s a high or a low or somewhere in between, Jesus has a new gift of love for you today.”
Sister Marie was born and raised in Alberta, Canada, and entered the Sisters of Life in 2010.
“Basically, Jesus fought for my heart,” she said. “I felt called as a young kid, and I was like, ‘No way, God. No way.’ So, I basically pushed him away for like 10 years.”
It wasn’t until Sister Marie attended a large state college and felt like just a number who didn’t know anyone — except Jesus.
“I’d park in front of the Tabernacle every day … And it was there that I realized I'm not a number, I'm a daughter. … It led me to surrender to him.
“It’s really true,” she said. “The Eucharist frees you to be yourself.”
Monsignor James P. Shea was inaugurated in 2009 as the sixth president of the University of Mary. He grew up on a dairy farm near Hazelton, North Dakota, and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Bismarck in 2002.
Monsignor Shea spoke about satisfaction and hunger. He recounted the story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. He said just like the phrase, “You are what you eat,” we become what we feed on.
“They had fed upon a lie … The lie now gripped them tightly,” he said. “Poison rushed through them. It spoiled the hunger of their mind. They sought now not for truth, but for power. It spoiled the hunger of their hearts. They sought now not to love but to use.”
But, Monsignor Shea said God made a promise at the time they ate the poison, and “God does not let even one of his promises fail.”
God taught his people to trust him again, he explained.
“God has made us so that we are incomplete unless we are feeding on him,” Monsignor Shea said. “We are famished for God.”
More than 50,000 gathered during the five-day event in Indianapolis, an initiative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops designed to renew the Catholic Church in the U.S. through an encounter with the Eucharist. The Congress included daily Masses, opportunities for prayer, the Sacrament of Confession, Eucharistic devotion and world-class Catholic speakers.
