CEO says National Eucharistic Congress, pilgrimage show Catholics 'are ready to make history'

CEO says National Eucharistic Congress, pilgrimage show Catholics 'are ready to make history'
By Maria Wiering , OSV News

(OSV News) -- In the afterglow of July's 10th National Eucharistic Congress, Jason Shanks senses that there's a new "way of evangelization" emerging -- or reemerging -- among Catholics in the United States. It's a way of evangelization that is "instructive and exciting," he said, in part because it is visible, drawing from the church's traditions.

The new CEO of National Eucharistic Congress Inc. pointed especially to the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which involved 30 young adult "perpetual pilgrims" crossing the country over eight weeks with the Eucharist via four routes, culminating in Indianapolis ahead of the July 17-21 congress.

Pilgrimage-related events, such as Mass, Eucharistic adoration and public processions, drew in some cases thousands of people, with the largest perhaps being the 5-mile procession in St. Paul, Minnesota, with crowd estimates exceeding 7,000 adorers.

"To watch the faith of the people on these pilgrimage routes as they're putting flowers down and doing little acts of devotion … there's just something amazing about it," he said. "I firmly believe it's a part of what this organization is to go forward, that these are going to be regular happenings and occurrences."

Shanks took the helm of National Eucharistic Congress Inc. Aug. 1. During the congress, he worked behind the scenes, and could be spotted wearing a headset while coordinating logistics.

With both the pilgrimage and the congress, Shanks said he is seeing "the excitement on behalf of the clergy and the bishops."

"I feel like people are responding to their call for Eucharistic revival," he said. "You saw that on the pilgrimage as you'd watch bishops hand the monstrance off to other bishops across bridges. … I think the church is best when we're on mission, and the pilgrimage sort of symbolizes that."

Along with the NEC's other leaders, including Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, its board chairman, Shanks is discerning the future of the organization. National Eucharistic Congress Inc. formed in 2022 to plan and execute the National Eucharistic Congress and other aspects of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative of the U.S. bishops that also began that year.

While the bishops' initiative is slated to end with Corpus Christi 2025, the organization expects to build on the revival's momentum beyond next year and continue to support Eucharist-centered efforts, including future national Eucharistic pilgrimages and congresses.

A single-route National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is being planned for next year from Indianapolis to Los Angeles for the June 19 feast of Corpus Christi, and another national Eucharistic congress is under consideration for 2033 or sooner, given the enthusiastic response Bishop Cozzens received when he publicly floated the idea following the congress's closing Mass.

In early September, Shanks and Bishop Cozzens attended the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress in Quito, Ecuador, and Shanks said he is researching the Eucharistic congress movement and discerning whether the ever-changing cultural landscape necessitates frequent U.S. congresses. However, the outcomes of this summer's congress must be fully evaluated first, he said.

National Eucharistic Congress Inc. recently surveyed attendees about their experience, and early results show an extremely positive response via a Net Promoter Score, which measures customer experience. Bain & Company, the consulting firm that created the NPS, calls scores above 80 "world class." The National Eucharistic Congress scored an 88.

"This was about the Eucharistic heart of Jesus, and being there together in adoration and unity, around him, and God used it," he said. "I have heard nothing but great things in terms of what they (Catholics) think this could be and has done for the church," with people using the words "transformational" and "game-changing" to describe the event.

But, he noted, the test is whether the pilgrimage and congress bear real "fruit."

"Can we go forward? Can we bring people to Jesus Christ? Can we walk with our neighbors?" he asked.

As plans for the next congress materialize, the National Eucharistic Congress Inc. may also serve as an idea "incubator" and resource for dioceses planning local or regional Eucharistic congresses, Shanks said. His team is learning from logistical "bumps" they experienced at the National Eucharistic Congress, such as the hours-long registration line on the event's opening day. He said it's important to take risks, learn from mistakes and not have to "reinvent" aspects of a major event each time a similar one is held.

"My goal is that we have a renewal engine of the church that continues to learn, continues to grow, that can be a resource to the church going forward," he said. "We want to do another congress, we can do another congress, and we have the wherewithal and know-how to do it."

With the pilgrimage and congress, "one of the things that resonated … (is that) people are ready to do big things, people are ready to make history," Shanks said. "I think there's a lot of lessons from both of those things that people within ministry need to sit back and take a look at. There are some paradigm shifts occurring," including the congress's success as an intergenerational event, a contrast to the age-specific events commonly organized in Catholic ministry.

Meanwhile, Shanks strongly supports continuing national Eucharistic pilgrimages. "We just live in a very comfort culture. This idea of sacrifice and doing hard things and pilgrimaging -- I think there's some lessons there for us in our personal interior life that's beyond what you give up at Lent," he said. "There's a sense of the pilgrimage that Jesus is coming, he's meeting you where you're at."

Pilgrimage also is "very synodal," he said, nodding to Pope Francis-backed efforts to underscore synodality within the Catholic Church, particularly through the worldwide Synod on Synodality underway. Synodality is often described with language that evokes pilgrimage, such as the people of God "journeying together."

Shanks sees the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage as an experience of "Pope Francis' call of accompaniment, call to go to the peripheries," he said. "I think there's a lot of excitement for it to continue."

Dates for the next Eucharistic congress will likely not be announced until the host city is identified, Shanks said. For now, his organization is focused on the revival's final year, the Year of Mission.

"How do we bring people to Jesus in the Eucharist? What does that look like and how does having an encounter with the Eucharist propel us to go and bring that encounter to others, so they can engage with the Eucharistic heart (of Jesus)?" he asked. "It's looking at the kerygma through the lens of the Eucharist."

The organization is also supporting the formation of Eucharistic missionaries. "This is where you're starting to get into a movement and a charism that I think is emerging, and to have people that start going beyond the encounter to living a Eucharistic life, to then becoming Eucharistic missionaries," he said. "What does domestic church look like in terms of Eucharistic revival? What does priest renewal look like?"

The National Eucharistic Congress, he said, was just the beginning.

"This was the church needing to come together, to heal, to be present to one another, and then to be sent out," he said. "It's going to happen over time. And I think this was a really good start."