Several major Catholic organizations and media companies, including Our Sunday Visitor, are joining to support the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress as “mission partners.”
“We see mission partners exactly as they are described — true partners in the National Eucharistic Congress,” Cande de Leon, chief advancement officer for the National Eucharistic Congress, told Our Sunday Visitor.
Taking place in Indianapolis, the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, scheduled for July 17-21, 2024, is the culmination of a three-year initiative by the U.S. Catholic bishops. Its mission is to renew the Catholic Church by enkindling a living relationship with Christ in the holy Eucharist.
“My own return to the Catholic Church came through an encounter with the body of Christ reserved in a tabernacle on a cold, gray, wet November evening,” OSV Publisher Scott P. Richert said. “Knowing personally how such an encounter can change one’s life, I’m excited that, through the National Eucharistic Congress, OSV can help countless others have similar experiences.”
The executive team for the National Eucharistic Congress named six mission partners in mid-April that made substantial financial commitments and pledged resources toward the planning and promotion of the event.
OSV is joined by Relevant Radio, the Augustine Institute, Franciscan University of Steubenville, EWTN and the Knights of Columbus in making up the first mission partners of the National Eucharistic Congress.
“The parish is the fundamental unit of the Catholic Church, and the Eucharist is the beating heart of every parish,” OSV CEO Kyle Hamilton said. “Any renewal of the Catholic Church needs to start at the parish level. As a mission partner for the National Eucharistic Congress, OSV continues to fulfill the mission that our founder, Archbishop Noll, began 111 years ago.”
Organizers of the first national Eucharistic congress to happen in 83 years anticipate that more than 80,000 Catholics will attend the multi-day event in Indianapolis.
“From helping to bring the Congress to Indianapolis to helping us tell the story of why we need to pray for Eucharistic revival, our mission partners will help make the 10th National Eucharistic Congress a moment of solidarity in the Catholic Church,” de Leon said.
The new mission partners, he stressed, want to help the faithful know Christ.
“What I like to think about is that our mission partners are ultimately made of people. These people are committed to evangelization and discipleship,” de Leon said. “They genuinely care about our Catholic Church and helping people to encounter Christ so they can experience his love and be transformed.”
De Leon called OSV founder Archbishop John Francis Noll, whom he described as having a vision rooted in evangelization, a perfect example.
“A hundred years later, they continue to carry this legacy forward by being one of the very first to support the National Eucharistic Congress,” he said of OSV.
Katie Yoder is a contributing editor for Our Sunday Visitor.
