Our friars joined their Dominican brothers and sisters as well as more than 60,000 Catholics from across the country—clergy, religious, and laypersons—for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis between July 17 and 21. 

Events included a Eucharistic Procession, Adoration, daily masses, and nightly revival sessions that featured a variety of speakers and musicians.The Congress concluded with a call to continue the revival efforts, with plans announced for the next Congress in 2033, the 2000th anniversary of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Br. John Steilberg, OP, Promoter of Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, and our Lay Dominicans attended to spread the Word and invite other Catholics to join them. The Laity of St. Dominic are those faithful who, baptized in the Catholic Church or received into her, confirmed, and in full communion of faith, sacraments, and ecclesiastical governance, are called to progress in the Christian way of life and to animate temporal things through the charism of St. Dominic. 

Br. John commented, “I cannot put into words what this event meant to me personally. I was very much a skeptic going into the Congress and yet was overwhelmed with joy and surprised by God constantly throughout the five days. Life changing. This will take me a long time to process.”

The promoters of Vocations from all four US provinces staffed a booth, providing information for young men interested in discerning a vocation with the Dominicans. Fr. Samuel Hakeem, OP, reflected “Today was amazing. It truly was a special day, not only for me, nor only the 60,000+ on hand, but for the entire US Church. What a blessing!” 

Br. Jacob Mazur-Batistoni, OP, who worked this summer in Chicago as part of the vocations team, also attended and was among tens of thousands lining the streets of Indianapolis for the Eucharistic Procession on Saturday afternoon.

“Where there is prayer, there is HOPE!” Fr. Mike Ford, OP, brought the arm of St. Jude to the Expo Hall, distributing blessings to thousands of visitors who venerated the apostolic relic. Elsewhere at the event, in a special Reliquary Chapel, attendees viewed artifacts related to the patrons of the Revival, including the veil of Our Lady, and prayed for the patrons’ intercession on behalf of the Revival.

Promoter of the Holy Name and the Holy Rosary Confraternities Fr. James Pierce Cavanaugh, OP, blessed thousands of rosaries and encouraged guests to enroll in the Dominican Rosary Confraternity. 

After the five-day event, Fr. James reflected:

"What comes next for the Catholic Church in the United States? And what role will the Dominicans have to play? As we prepared for the Congress, I knew that our Province and the broader US Dominican Order would be well-represented. In addition to vocations directors for all four US Provinces, the St. Jude Shrine director, promoters of the Laity and Rosary, many Dominican sisters would all be in attendance. But I did wonder how the efforts of the Order would fit into the Church's efforts to spread the Gospel, both during the Congress and after. By the end of the event, I realized that I had underestimated the role we can play. 

"People were thrilled to associate with the Dominicans; literally thousands of faithful Catholics--many of whom had never met a live Dominican--expressed excitement about St. Dominic, the Rosary, and St. Thomas Aquinas. Our Province is especially blessed to have care of the largest apostolic relic in the United States, and that connection bore special fruit during the Congress. Other exhibitors asked me if I knew where the relic was being kept in the Expo Hall and about the site of the shrine.

"The hall was open from noon to 6:30 p.m. for four consecutive days; during that time, interest in our booth never abated. As people streamed by to pray with St. Jude, we enrolled people the Rosary Confraternity, shared information about the Dominican Laity, and directed people to our Vocations Booth further down the hall. Through all of this, our Lay Dominicans volunteered to distribute rosaries, collect enrollment forms, and hand out pamphlets. 

"Day-to-day life is different from life at the National Eucharistic Congress, but the scene at our booth gives a good template for Dominican evangelization within the Church; people everywhere are looking for light, a light that we know only Christ can give, one that  shone out during the Congress through Christ in the Eucharist. Dominicans are tasked with shining that light by our preaching charism; when that light shines--as when the Relic of the Apostle St. Jude is brought to the people for public devotion, or when the fullness of the Rosary is preached--people come and are drawn further into that light by other aspects of our life that contribute to our preaching charism, always given for the service of the Church. 

"As the Church prepares to go out on mission,  Dominicans may be confident that we have a place at the center of this mission; may our preaching charism leaven more and more the mission of the Church in the US, and may we invite all who are drawn to this charism to share in this mission."

Photographs courtesy of Fr. Samuel Hakeem, OP; Fr. James Pierce Cavanaugh, OP; Br. Jacob Mazur-Batistoni, OP; and Rosemary Adams.