March 5, 2023

More than 1,500 people attend Eucharistic Congress

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Carolee McGrath

 

SPRINGFIELD – The snow couldn’t keep away the more than 1,500 people who attended the Eucharistic Congress at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Saturday, March 4. The all-day conference included internationally renowned speakers who presented in English and Spanish, a children’s program, eucharistic adoration, and a closing Mass celebrated by Springfield Bishop William D. Byrne.

The event’s theme was “He is Present,” with a goal of helping Catholics better understand the teaching of the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

“It shows you how hungry people are for the Lord and how the Lord is so generous, feeding us with His word and the Eucharist. It’s just such an exciting day. People responded to the invitation that the Lord never stops asking people,” said Bishop Byrne.

The Eucharistic Congress was organized by the Catholic Life Conference, which is a nonprofit lay initiative.

“Everyone is so excited and there is so much energy and the snow came, and people said, ‘Forget it. We’re coming to the  conference, we still want to be here,’” said April Helenek, the director of the Catholic Life Conference. Helenek and her husband Jae, who just had their seventh baby, worked side by side for months, leading efforts to ensure the event was a success.

“God showed us that people want more and they want to be here and they want these things. I’m just proud of our diocese right now and so proud of our priests for promoting this. It’s just so exciting,” April Helenek said.

The speakers included Edward Sri, a Catholic author and speaker who regularly appears on EWTN. He has written several books including, Who Am I to Judge? Responding to Relativism with Logic and Love. He is also the host of the acclaimed film series “Symbolon: The Catholic Faith Explained.” Sri is the founding leader of Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS)

“We just had a gathering of 17,000 young people in St. Louis, gathering together for their faith, falling on their knees during Eucharistic adoration, going to confession,” said Sri, when asked about the youth of the church. “If we present the joy of the Gospel in its fullness, they respond because they look at the secular world and see what’s out there isn’t working for dating, for love, for marriage, for friendship. They’re longing for something more. We as Catholics just need to do a better job of joyfully presenting our Catholic faith.”

Many parishes brought youth groups and teenagers in Confirmation programs. Other youth attended with their families.

“I’m here with my whole family. And I know we can all gain some sort of experience from this because there are different booths, there’s a lot of diversity in here. We just learned so many different things,” said Sara Gonzalez, a grade eight student from St. Celia Parish in Wilbraham.

“I’m here with Sara because I really want to build a better connection with God and if I have no one I can go to church and pray,” said Sophie Simard, who attends St. Elizabeth Parish in Ludlow.

Patricia Sandoval presented in English and Spanish. The international pro-life and chastity speaker shared her story of past abortions, her work at Planned Parenthood, substance abuse, and her conversion. Sandoval is currently the host of the “Pro-Life Report” on EWTN.

“Unfortunately I had three abortions and I was lied to by society. I was lied to by the sexual educators who came to my school when I was 12 years old. I was lied to by the nurses and abortionists at the abortion clinics,” Sandoval said. She added parents have to teach children the truth about life at home to combat what society is pushing.

“When you look at science and you look at biology, it is a life that you are taking away. It is the right of the father to have a say when it comes to an unwanted pregnancy. Abortion takes the true rights away from the woman, and it destroys the whole family,” Sandoval said.

Also in the lineup was Dr. Carlos Parellada, a surgeon at Centro Médico Hospital in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Dr. Parellada spoke about eucharistic miracles. He was involved in the study of the Tixtla (Mexico) eucharistic miracle, using his expertise as a surgeon to extract a sample to provide for pathological review. 

Other speakers included Barbara Heil, a former Pentecostal minister who spoke of her conversion; Sister of Life Maris Stella; and Ray Grijalba, the director of a movie on eucharistic miracles currently in production, called the “New Manna.”

The day began with a rosary in several different languages and included eucharistic adoration, and confession. More than These music ministry, led by Kelly Coleman, provided the music for the day. They were joined by Revival Worship led by Ariana Roldan.

The Eucharistic Congress featured displays of Blessed Carlo Acutis, who built a website documenting eucharistic miracles. The teenage tech-genius had a great love for the Eucharist. He died of leukemia at the age of 15 in 2006 and was beatified by Pope Francis in 2020.  Blessed Carlo Acutis served as the patron of Eucharistic Congress.

“This shows such signs of vitality and hope here in western Massachusetts, people coming from all over the diocese,” said Bishop Byrne. “And it’s going to energize us and encourage us to invite people to the Lord,” he said.

The day concluded with a eucharistic procession and Mass celebrated by Bishop Byrne. Several priests from across the diocese were concelebrants and several deacons served. The Mass was featured on “Chalice of Salvation,” Sunday, March 5 at 10 a.m. on WWLP-22 News.

A video version of this story will be featured on an upcoming edition of “Real to Reel,” which airs Saturday evenings at 7 p.m. on WWLP-22NEWS.