Gulf Pine Catholic

18 Gulf Pine Catholic • August 16, 2024 NEC24 Day 3 Daytime From page 17 She shared com- ments from Day about her devotion to the Eucharist, such as this one: “Scripture, on the one hand, and the Eucharist, the Word made flesh, on the other, have in them that strength which no power on Earth can withstand.” Day also called the Mass “our food, drink, our delight, our refresh- ment, our courage, our life.” At lunchtime, the expo hall in the Indiana Convention Center was packed as people sang, danced and clapped along to a performance of the Dominican friar band The Hillbilly Thomists . Philip and Melissa Smaldino, from Yorktown, Indiana, who are expecting their sev- enth child in October, watched the band from the sidelines along with their six little ones. The couple, which said they came back to Christ in the Catholic Church 10 years ago, said they especially enjoyed the periods of Eucharistic adoration, both at Lucas Oil Stadium in the evenings and also the “absolutely packed” family Holy Hour at St. John the Evangelist Church, where the children got to bring Christ flow- ers. “Our hope is we grow in our faith and devotion to Christ and the Eucharist through it all,” he said. At the midmorning press conference at the near- by Crowne Plaza Hotel, Archbishop Pérez remarked on the excitement all around him. “I’ve been a priest 35 years, 12 years a bishop. And other than a papal visit ... I don’t remember an event like this,” Archbishop Pérez said. “You can sense the energy of what’s happening here, which is touching hearts,” he said. The afternoon’s 20 breakout sessions and special events sought to empower Catholics with knowledge and tools to live out their faith. Deacon Charlie Echeverry, a Catholic speaker, podcaster and entrepreneur in Los Angeles, told peo- ple in his session that 42% of U.S. Catholics are Latino -- and successfully engaging them will “actu- ally achieve that great goal of bringing the Catholic Church to every corner in this country.” Using statistics on the rates of decline in bap- tisms and marriages, he made a compelling case on the need for the U.S. church to better recognize and activate the potential of Latino Catholics, and stem the exodus of young Latinos, who are the number one group leaving the church. “We have to start reflecting and ask ourselves: are we ministering to the sheep in the way that we should?” he said. To activate this “sleeping giant” of the church, he encouraged Catholics who are not Latino to get to know the Latino Catholics in their parish, be inclu- sive and work to involve them to meet their specific needs and leverage their specific gifts. He called for support for inculturated ministries for youth and young adult Latinos that may not be in Spanish, but “speak Latino,” such as the Corazón Puro ministry in New York. He explained that most Latinos prefer to attend Mass in Spanish, even if they don’t fluent- ly speak the language, due to cultural connections. Hosffman Ospino, a professor of theology and religious education at Boston College who research- es Hispanic ministry, also talked about “the Eucharist as a source of communion in a culturally diverse church” during a Spanish-language breakout ses- sion. “We need to be open to the possibilities that there are many ways to celebrate, contemplate and live the Eucharist,” he explained to a room filled by Latino Catholics from different backgrounds and heritages. Rather than tension, he said, witnessing how people “express their faith and love for the Eucharist” in different ways can prompt people today. “That is not my experience, but it is my church … because we are only one church, we are part of the same community,” he said. Emily Wilson Hussem, a speaker, YouTuber , author, wife and mom, guided hundreds of women in a mini-retreat experi- ence, reflecting on the areas of life where it is most difficult to imitate Mary’s courageous “yes” to God. She led them in an exercise of sharing sto- ries in small groups about times in their lives when it was diffi- cult to say “yes” to God and moments where beauty had come out of suffering. She shared her own experience as a child of being inspired by the beauty of seeing her church community support and cook for her family in the suffer- ing of her mother’s bat- tle with breast cancer. She encouraged the women to pray for even just five minutes before the Lord about their suf- fering and ask “draw me closer to you here” and “make something beautiful come of this.” Amid people’s suffering, she asked, “Where do we go, where do we find ourselves? At the Eucharistic table or somewhere else? The Lord is always inviting us there to be with him.” Throughout the day, pilgrims filled the exhibit hall. Kids played with giant towers of blocks and to throw cornhole bags while long lines continued for the Shroud of Turin exhibit and for confessions. While pilgrims waited in line to see the Shroud of Turin exhibit, Father Carl Zoucha from South Sioux City, Nebraska, explained the mysteries of the rosary before beginning to pray. A group of Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of the Philippines, waiting a little farther back in the same line, shared how moved they had been by Eucharistic adoration with 50,000 people at Lucas Oil Stadium during the evening revivals. Sister Lergie Tabasa, who came from Hawaii, reflected on the experience of God’s presence at the congress. “I know it is not a coincidence that we are here,” she told OSV News . “You know each one of us was touched by God to be here, to share our faith, and to join with one another in all walks of life.” Contributing to this story were Lauretta Brown, Gretchen R. Crowe, Maria-Pia Negro Chin, Sean Gallagher, Natalie Hoefer, Michael Heinlein, John Shaughnessy, Peter Jesserer Smith and Maria Wiering. Bishops process into Mass at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis July 19 during the National Eucharistic Congress. OSV News photo/Scott Warden, courtesy Today’s Catholic, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend