As revival’s Year of Mission closes, organizers are looking ahead

In the same way that a relationship with Christ is not about something but someone, the organizers of the National Eucharistic Revival will tell you that their movement is not just something faithful Catholics do, but something that they are — a grace from God, stirring up the hearts of his people.

The National Eucharistic Revival — a three-year initiative of the U.S. bishops aimed at reviving Catholic belief in Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist — began in 2022. The revival ends June 22.

Its launch nurtured a spark of urgent motivation: In August 2019, the Pew Research Center reported “just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their Church” that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ. 

While a later study conducted by Vinea Research proposed the wording of Pew’s survey was problematic — its 2024 results indicated 69 percent of Catholics believe in the Real Presence — adherence is still not universal.

“I think that Pew study … was a catalyst that got our Church moving,” said Kris Frank, vice president of growth and marketing at the National Eucharistic Congress Inc., or NEC. “But whether it was a lack of belief or just indifference, I think what the revival did was bring the Eucharist front and center — and reminded us of what a gift we have in the person of Jesus Christ.”

That gift literally took a road trip, when — from May 17 to July 16, 2024, on routes north, south, east and west  — a total of 250,000 participants processed 6,500 miles in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage across America. The routes eventually converged on Indianapolis for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, held from July 17 to 21, 2024, and attended by more than 60,000 participants.

But Jesus’ journey wasn’t done.

This year, in a second National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, Christ has once again been on the move, traveling since May 18 from Indianapolis to Los Angeles. A June 22 Mass, Eucharistic procession and festival in Los Angeles will mark the feast of Corpus Christi and the end of the pilgrimage.

The 11th National Eucharistic Congress is expected to be held in 2029.

In mid-May, the NEC released its Eucharistic Missionary formation program, “which is a more intentional commitment to live out the spirit of the National Eucharistic Revival,” Joel Stepanek, NEC vice president of programming and administration, said. “And so that’s an invitation for people to undergo a few weeks of formation — and in those few weeks, take up some daily practices they’ll continue as they live out life as a Eucharistic Missionary.”

Those things include making a Holy Hour every week; attending a daily Mass, in addition to the Sunday obligation; joining a small group; finding ways to serve in family, neighborhoods and parishes; and offering daily prayers and fasting for both those they are accompanying and for ongoing Eucharistic revival in the United States.