The launch of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) three-year National Eucharistic Revival initiative kicks off in the diocese with a Eucharistic procession at 4 p.m. Sunday, June 19, which is Corpus Christi Sunday, at Columbus St. Cecilia Church, 434 Norton Road.

The day before, on Saturday, June 18, a Eucharistic procession will be included as part of the Rescue Project Live! event with Father John Riccardo, a priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit and the host of a popular EWTN Radio program, that will be held in the Celeste Center at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus.

The following Friday, June 24, another Eucharistic procession is scheduled after the 7 p.m. Mass on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Columbus Sacred Heart Church, 893 Hamlet St.

The theme of the USCCB’s National Eucharistic Revival, which was initiated in part because surveys show that only about one-third of professed Catholics believe that Christ is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, is “Created Anew by the Body and Blood of Christ, Source of our Healing and Hope.”

Parishes throughout the country and the diocese have planned Eucharistic processions on  Corpus Christi Sunday, including large-scale events in the Archdioceses of Detroit and Los Angeles. Check your parish or a nearby parish for a schedule of events.

The culmination of the bishops’ three-year plan, which was approved at their semiannual general assembly in November 2021, is a National Eucharistic Congress on July 17-21, 2024 in Indianapolis. The first one of its kind in almost 50 years in the United States is expected to attract more than 80,000 Catholics.

“We are really aware in these times that we live that the Church needs to become more missionary. The culture itself doesn’t support what we do anymore as Catholics,” said Bishop Andrew Cozzens, chairman of the Board of the National Eucharistic Congress and the bishop of the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, in a statement. 

“All Catholics are invited into a renewed encounter with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, especially those Catholics who don’t fully understand the power of the Eucharist.”

Year one of the U.S. bishops’ Eucharistic revival, from June 2022 to June 2023, is called the “Year of the Diocesan Revival” and focuses on the diocesan level with events, days of formation and reflection, and pastoral training sessions.

The second year (June 2023-June 2024) is called the “Year of Parish Revival.” Pastors, staff and parishioners will engage in catechetical formation on the Real Presence of Christ that includes providing opportunities to better understand the Paschal Mystery through the Mass, Adoration and the sacrament of reconciliation.  

Year three, designated the “Year of the National Eucharistic Congress and Missionary Sending,” begins with the National Eucharistic Congress.

“The Eucharist is the gateway key to the civilization of love that we long to create. Jesus promised that he would be truly present in the sacrament of the altar – but also in the flesh and blood of our neighbors, especially those who are poor and suffering,” said Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles and the president of the USCCB in a statement. 

“If we ever hope to end human indifference and social injustice, then we need to revive this sacramental awareness. In every human person we meet – from the infant in the womb to our elderly parents drawing their dying breaths – we must see the image of the living God.”

For more information and to sign up for a weekly newsletter, visit www.eucharisticrevival.org.