The family of Katie and Rob McGaver belongs to St. Charles Parish in Hartland and has been very encouraged and uplifted by what they have seen and heard at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. (Submitted photo)

BY KATHLEEN MCGILLIS DRAYNA AND COLLEEN JURKIEWICZ

“It felt like a fire was lighting in my soul.”

Revival is in the air at the National Eucharistic Congress, but organizers would be delighted to hear that Harrison McGaver, 12, had that to say about what the opening ceremony was like for him.

Harrison attended the congress in downtown Indianapolis with his brother, Grant, 10, and parents Rob and Katie McGaver, members of St. Charles in Hartland.

The congress didn’t come at a perfect time for the McGavers — they have suffered several losses through miscarriage in the past year, in addition to the very recent death of Katie McGaver’s grandfather. She is also 14 weeks pregnant.

“We knew we had to be there,” she said, and that meant her sons, too. “And what God is going to do through it, I don’t know. I believe it’s going to form them more than we realize. At least I pray it will.”

“To go to a football stadium and to hear people cheering and clapping, getting so excited for Jesus and the Eucharist — that’s just an experience that, I don’t know where else you’re gonna get it, other than here,” Rob McGaver said.

“I would say it was just really powerful … how they just presented the Eucharist and the love that they showed,” Grant said of the opening ceremony.

On the next day, Thursday, the first full day of the five-day congress, Grant felt inspired by the Eucharist to bring food to one of the many homeless people on downtown Indianapolis’ sidewalks and streets.

“I thought to give them some of my food and just to share the gift of the Eucharist,” he said.

Yes, revival is in the air and on the sidewalks.

About 50,000 people had purchased tickets to the Congress through Thursday night and they are often free at the same time — crowding the sidewalks for blocks around the congress sites — Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indianapolis Convention Center.

The plans for the congress, which ended at about noon on Sunday, July 21, were initiated two years ago at the start of the National Eucharistic Revival, organized by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. Its aim is to inspire, educate, and unite the faithful in a more intimate relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist and share that in a “new Pentecost.”

Others from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee or nearby shared their experiences of the congress so far, but asked what it was like, no one talked about waiting in lines or traffic. Rather …

  • “The presence of the Holy Spirit is palpable!” said Jeanette Kirchner, a member of St. Monica, Whitefish Bay, who is attending with her husband, daughter and son-in-law, and five grandchildren, ages 3-15. “Love and joy radiates from each face. All are eager to share how Jesus has touched them. I have never experienced anything like this! Lines? Yes! Logistical challenges? You bet. Impatience? None. And, I know we will say to one another when we get home, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us?’”

“Being at the congress is helping us as a family to fill our spiritual reservoirs with love to share with our families and to truly experience 100 percent Jesus when we receive the Eucharist,” said Jeanette’s daughter, Liz Hammetter, a member of St. Francis Borgia, Cedarburg. “We are learning that this revival is an all-or-nothing movement and giving us more tools to make the changes we need to in our families. Other than the amount of Catholics here, one thing that has been amazing so far for us is just the genuine, unique opportunity as a family to be in a place that feels like home away from home.”

  • “The sheer number of people wherever we go has been amazing.  One is always in a sea of literally thousands of Catholics!” said JoAnn Gates, a member of St. Veronica, Milwaukee. “The opening ceremony was phenomenal!  It was so exciting to watch as each of the four national pilgrim groups processed into the stadium with a picture of their pilgrimage patron.  Great cheering rang out from our Milwaukee Archdiocese participants when the Marian Route pilgrims entered.”

“Praying the Rosary with thousands of people in the stadium was an inspiring experience,” said JoAnn’s husband, Brian. “As I looked down from my upper-level seat to see hundreds of priests and religious, and thousands of other lay people from across the United States, it felt like a glimpse of what heaven might be like: praying with the multitudes of people who have lived on Earth for all time.”

“As I was walking through the crowds to go from one event to another, I looked at the wide variety of faces, knowing that every person is a beloved son or daughter of God. I could see Christ present in each of them,” Brian added.

  • While it was an “incredible experience to be here with 50,000 other Catholics,” said Dcn. Mike Burch, St. John XXIII, Port Washington, “what surprised me was how exhausting being with so many people and the enormous lines to do just about anything.” The morning Masses in the stadium with tens of thousands of Catholics have been a highlight, he said, especially the Thursday ones with the former Archbishop of Milwaukee, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.
  • “The Wednesday morning Mass was just awesome. It’s kind of overwhelming,” said Lisa Pruszka of St. Leonard. To have about 30,000 people present sharing identical rites and rituals was a reminder that this is going on in smaller Masses throughout the world every day, hour and minute as part of a Church that remains very much alive, she said.

“Why did this take 83 years?” her husband, Jim, wondered, for the United States to again experience a National Eucharistic Congress. “How about every 25 years?”

He enjoyed the fact he could turn to anyone and “talk religion.” At the same time, it was clear that people came from many walks of life with varied experiences, said Jim, who is involved in music ministry at St. Leonard along with Lisa. One example was the worship music at the revival nights and mornings Masses — some people knew all the words to songs in Latin, while it seems that others knew all the words to contemporary Christian music selections. “I guess that is some of the beauty that you see. It all blends together beautifully because the message is the same. Another thing this really does is reinforce your own beliefs.”

Jim also enjoyed seeing the hundreds of priests, bishops and seminarians processing in for Mass. “That was incredible. That gave me a lot of hope — just to see that many seminarians.”

  • “To be in the Eucharistic Revival feels like rediscovering and being reminded of my Catholic identity,” said Simon Biagui, Director of Evangelization and Discipleship for the Northwest Milwaukee Catholic Parishes. “I am intentionally reminding myself of why I fell in love with Christ and my fellow brothers and sisters.” He said one highlight for him was the special track of presentations for Church and parish ministers. “It is essential to take time daily and weekly to nurture my personal salvific relationship with the Lord. My highlight was a reminder to ask God’s help daily for my conversion (and) my renewal, and to be aware on my journey of fire extinguishers that might dim the fire of the Holy Spirit that God put in my heart.”
  • “It’s really like the crossroads of the nation here,” said Dcn. Rick Wirch of St Leonard, Muskego. He’s enjoyed talking with deacons from other parts of the country. “I just think it’s wonderful to talk with each and every person,” his wife, Mary, said. “It has been meaningful. It just renews your faith to have all these like-minded people in the same place, it just gives you the chills.”
  • “Eucharistic Adoration in Lucas Oil Stadium — totally transformed from football to worship — with tens of thousands of devoted Catholics is incredibly moving,” said Linda Mullane of Madison. She and her husband, Kevin, joined the Archdiocese of Milwaukee pilgrimage to the congress. “The overwhelming presence of clergy and religious tending to the pilgrims with very available confession and beautiful liturgies is nothing short of amazing.”