Archdiocese's Year of the Eucharist
celebration is June 12

By Sean Gallagher

Catholics from across the archdiocese are preparing for a special celebration of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, what the late Pope John Paul II described in his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia (“The Church from the Eucharist”) as “the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history.”

Thousands of Catholics are expected to take part in “The Year of the Eucharist: Celebrating the Body of Christ” from 3-5 p.m. on June 12 at Victory Field in Indianapolis. Pope John Paul II announced last June that a year of special emphasis on the Eucharist would be held in the Church from October 2004 to October of this year. Click here for a schedule

After processing through the streets of downtown Indianapolis from St. John the Evangelist Church, Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, carrying a monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament and leading a designated group of archdiocesan priests and Disciples in Mission parish coordinators, will enter the minor league baseball stadium at 3 p.m.

Joining the procession at the stadium will be hundreds of boys and girls who have celebrated their first Communion this year, members of several Catholic fraternal organizations and banner bearers representing parishes from across the archdiocese.

During the course of the procession, there will be Scripture readings, the singing of the sequence for the Solemnity of the Most Body and Blood of Christ and other sung responses, a sermon by Archbishop Buechlein and a commissioning of those involved in Disciples in Mission to continue their ministry of evangelization. The procession will conclude with Benediction, the Church’s solemn blessing. (Volunteers are still needed for the event -- click here to help)

Father Jonathan Meyer, associate director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the archdiocese and a member of the committee helping to plan and coordinate the event, spoke recently about its focus on the Eucharist.

“We constantly go to the RCA Dome or Victory Field or Conseco Fieldhouse to go and see these big names, to go and see basketball players, football players, rock stars, country music stars,” he said. “And now we have people who are going to Victory Field to be with one person. It isn’t even so much what we do. We’re not going there to celebrate Mass.

“We’re going there to spend time with a person. It’s the second person of the Blessed Trinity. And he’s going to speak to us through his Word. And we’re going to watch him. And he’s going to give us his blessing. And we’re going to sing. And we’re going to praise. And we’re going to worship. And that in itself is beautiful.”

Victory Field’s gates will open to the public at 2 p.m. From then until the eucharistic procession enters the stadium, Grace on Demand, a band made up of youth and young adult parishioners largely from Mary Queen of Peace Parish in Danville, will provide music.

Witnesses on the Eucharist will be offered by St. Thomas Aquinas parishioner Sharon Mason of Indianapolis, a staff chaplain at St. Vincent Hospital, and by 2005 Roncalli High School valedictorian Matt Pfarr of Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood.

Also, from 2-3 p.m. in the concourse of the stadium there will be a ministry fair involving 18 archdiocesan offices and agencies and other Catholic organizations.

This ministry fair, which will be open again from 4-5 p.m. after the conclusion of the eucharistic procession, along with the commissioning of those involved in Disciples in Mission will highlight the Church’s efforts to proclaim the Gospel.

Ann Tully, a member of the archdiocese’s Evangelization Commission, commented on the public nature of this event and its relationship to evangelization.

“We’re coming together as parishes,” she said. “But we’re also coming together with the greater civic community of Indianapolis. I think that in itself will be a great evangelizing event.”

Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general of the archdiocese, said that the desire to make it a public event was a motivation to locate it at Victory Field.

“We could have done this at Roncalli High School,” he said. “That’s one of the sites that we considered. They have a big stadium there. But the fact that Victory Field is centrally located, it’s a very public place … ”

“The Year of the Eucharist: Celebrating the Body of Christ” is open to the general public.

In addition to the ministry fair, other events occurring after the conclusion of the eucharistic procession will include games and face painting for children in the picnic area behind center field and more music provided by Grace on Demand.

Father Joseph Riedman, pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Indianapolis, said that a large group of his parishioners will be coming to the event, including approximately 50 boys and girls who recently celebrated their first Communion.

He said he thinks that his parish’s involvement in the event is a way for it to share its love of the Eucharist with Catholics from throughout the archdiocese.

“I think that the Holy Spirit is a symbol of Christ’s presence in the world because of its permanence here on the east side [of Indianapolis],” Father Riedman said. “In a lot of ways, I think of this parish as a devout eucharistic parish. We always have good attendance at our Masses, even during the week. I think we are consistent in the way that we exercise our love for our Lord in the Eucharist.”

Benedictine Sister Mary Cecile Deken, pastoral associate and administrator of religious education at St. Lawrence Parish in Lawrenceburg, said that she is looking forward to the members of her parish coming together around the Eucharist with so many Catholics from other parts of the archdiocese.

She also noted that several of the faith community’s first communicants will be making the trip for the event and that the rest of the parishioners have been invited as well.

“We’ve had announcements about what is going on hanging up on our doors,” she said. “We’ve had it in our bulletin. So we’re encouraging people to come.”

Sister Mary Cecile said she thinks the event will be a feast for the senses centered around what is at the heart of the Church.

“I think the Eucharist is the center of our faith,” she said. “There will be something just about the celebration itself that will do something to deepen your faith. This will be a big expression through music and through numbers and through banners and through a big procession with all those little children and all the priests and the archbishop.

“There is something visually there that will bring them to think that there’s something to this, even if their faith has been a little bit weak.” †