INDIANAPOLIS – The 45,000-plus Catholics flooding the Midwest for the National Eucharistic Congress are a visible sign that faith can be revived.
That was the message of Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Chancellor of the Universityand archbishop of Washington, at the second-day Mass held at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“We prayed that your journeys may have allowed you to see many curious onlookers who might have gazed at you or may have directed questions to you about what you were hoping to achieve,” Gregory l said. “With this procession, those chance encounters were also opportunities for you to reflect on the reasons that brought about your participation in that journey of faith, a renewal and deepening of our acceptance of Christ’s Eucharistic presence in our midst.”
The Congress and the National Eucharistic Revival are the result of a Pew Research Study that discovered a third of American Catholics do not believe in the real presence of the Eucharist.
The Cardinal offered a prayer that change is on the horizon.
“As people carry the Eucharistic Lord, traveling through the communities of our country, we pray that we might renew our love, awareness, and respect for the special gift of His presence,” he said.