Cathedral rector outlines process for national Eucharistic revival

METUCHEN — In 2022, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops initiated a three-year National Eucharistic Renewal for the U.S. with its stated mission, “To renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.”

As part of the Diocese of Metuchen’s active participation in this renewal, Father Timothy A. Christy, rector of the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, gave a lecture describing the renewal and its various stages Jan. 17.

The renewal, which began June11, 2022, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, is scheduled to conclude in July 2024 at a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, a city that will allow thousands of Catholics to participate because of its location.

The first year of the renewal calls for a Diocesan Revival, which began in the diocese June 19, Corpus Christi Sunday, with a Eucharistic Procession led by Bishop James F. Checchio in the streets around the Cathedral and ended with Benediction.

Pope Francis has described the goal of this first year as “a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ.” This will be fostered in the diocese through both live and online events that will encourage the faithful to grow in their understanding and devotion to Christ in the Eucharist.

Parish Revival is the focus of the renewal’s second year. All the parishes in the diocese will promote the renewal of belief in, devotion to and love of the Blessed Sacrament. There will be teaching and preaching on the gift and doctrine of the Eucharist, Bible study, Eucharistic adoration and parish missions. The goal of this phase is, as Bishop Checchio proclaimed, to start a fire in the heart of the world and develop missionaries for Christ.

Through the movement of the Spirit during the renewal’s three-year process leading up to and ending with the National Eucharistic Congress, it is expected the result will be a nationwide revival of understanding and devotion to the Eucharist, the source and summit of the faith.

Father Christy began his lecture by asking: “Why? Why is there a perceived need for this national revival at this time?”

He answered that question in two ways: an overview of events that have contributed to the current state of devotion and a comparison of the American Church in the second half of the 20th Century and today. In answering his own question, Father Christy reminded attendees of other periods in the 2,000-year history of the Church when renewal and revival was necessary and how it was accomplished.

He also pointed to a general cynicism that has been growing over the past three quarters of a century towards, not just religious faith, but to belief in the secular realm regarding ideas, traditions and long held concepts.

In the 1950s, the Church was strong and growing, new churches were being erected across America; seminaries, monasteries and convents were crowded and the U.S. was sending missionaries across the globe. A survey in 1957 estimated that 79 percent of Roman Catholics in the United States attended Mass every week. Father Christy pointed out that even then some noted a change was beginning. He quoted Joseph Ratzinger (the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI), who wrote in 1958 that he perceived a “hollowing in the practice of the Catholic Faith.” He added that the future pope believed that “fewer and fewer Catholics were surrendering to the Gospel and conforming their lives to Jesus Christ.”

The Renewal is intended to revitalize and renew the American Church’s devotion to the Holy Eucharist. Some of those in attendance at the presentation were from the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults formation process at the Cathedral. Anna Chen, a candidate said, “Juxtaposing what it was like 50 years ago versus today made me reflect on the current challenges Catholics face today.” Jerlin Gara, a catechumen who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil, said that “learning the meaning of the Eucharist has been essential to the relationship that I seek with God, it is our encounter with Jesus and the work we are called to do for him.”

To put the evening into context, Father Christy ended his presentation by reading a prayer by St. Thomas of Aquinas, a Thanksgiving after Mass, which begins, “I give you thanks Lord, Holy Father, who has been pleased to nourish me your unworthy servant with the precious Body and Blood of your son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Deacon Cline exercises his ministry at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish, Bridgewater