Congress

: Published: 29 August 2019

15th annual Eucharistic Congress to be held Sept. 6-7

Artwork features “The Last Supper,” The Morgan Library & Museum, New York. Reprinted with permission. CHARLOTTE — The faithful of the Diocese of Charlotte are invited to the 15th annual Eucharistic Congress – a free, two-day event celebrating our Catholic faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist Sept. 6-7 at the Charlotte Convention Center.

In what has become an annual gathering of the Church in western North Carolina, the Eucharistic Congress is expected to attract more than 16,000 people from around the state and the Southeast.

This year’s Eucharistic Congress theme is “Stay With Us, Lord,” which is taken from Luke’s Gospel, 24:29.

The congress will include: Mass; a Eucharistic procession through uptown Charlotte; the sacrament of confession; speakers and programs geared especially for adults, children and college students; vendors offering Catholic merchandise and information; and more.

It will begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday with a time of quiet reflection and chant, then a welcome at 6:45 p.m. from Bishop Peter Jugis in Hall A of the Convention Center. At 7 p.m. Byzantine rite vespers will be prayed.

This will be followed by a talk at 8 p.m. by Dr. Scott Hahn entitled, “Stay With Us, Lord: Lessons along the Road to Emmaus.”

Hahn is a convert to the faith who is the founder and president of the Saint Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He is a longtime professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.

He is also a bestselling author who has appeared on EWTN. His numerous books include “The Lamb’s Supper,” “Reasons to Believe,” and “Rome Sweet Home” (co-authored with his wife, Kimberly). Some of his newest books are “The First Society,” “The Fourth Cup,” “Romans: A Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture,” “The Creed,” “Evangelizing Catholics,” “Angels and Saints” and “Joy to the World.”

After Hahn’s talk, there will be an evening Eucharistic procession to St. Peter Church starting at 9:15 p.m., where Adoration will take place all night. There will also be a special College Night program for college students during which there will be a Q&A with Hahn and music by Dana Catherine Schwartz.

Saturday’s events kick off at 9 a.m. with a Eucharistic procession that follows a route from St. Peter Church to the Charlotte Convention Center. A Holy Hour – featuring a homily by Father Patrick Winslow, vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte – will immediately follow the procession at 10:15 a.m.

An English track, Spanish track, Vietnamese program, youth and other tracks will be offered throughout the day. Bishop Jugis will celebrate Mass at the conclusion of the congress Saturday at 4:15 p.m.
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter

More information

At www.goeucharist.com: See the full schedule of events for the 2019 Eucharistic Congress, read more about the featured speakers and activities, get parking information and more.

Read the Eucharistic Congress Guide.

Speakers

Dr. Scott Hahn

Friday: ‘Stay With Us, Lord: Lessons along the Road to Emmaus’
Saturday: ‘The Eucharist and the New Evangelization: The Power of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament’
A renowned author, speaker and Biblical scholar, Dr. Scott Hahn teaches at Franciscan University of Steubenville and is the founder and president of the Saint Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He is the author of numerous bestselling books, including “The Fourth Cup: Unveiling the Mystery of the Last Supper and the Cross.”

Very Rev. Fr. Patrick J. Winslow, J.C.L.

Saturday: Homilist, ‘Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over’ (Lk 24:29)
Since coming to the Diocese of Charlotte in 2002 from the Diocese of Albany, N.Y., Father Patrick Winslow has served with distinction in several important diocesan roles, including as an ex-officio member of the Lay Review Board, the Promoter of Justice in the diocese, and as pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte.
In April, Bishop Jugis appointed him vicar general and chancellor.

Dr. Edward Sri

Saturday: ‘Vibrant Faith in a Secular Age’
Dr. Sri taught at Benedictine College and helped to launch FOCUS. At the Augustine Institute, he has taught Scripture, Moral and Spiritual Theology, Mariology, the New Evangelization, Christian Marriage and Theology of the Body. He has also served as content director for several of the institute’s programs, including “Symbolon: The Catholic Faith Explained” and “Beloved: Finding Happiness in Marriage” and as executive director of Formed.org.

Russ Breault

Saturday: ‘Shroud Encounter: Explore the Mystery’
Russ Breault has been researching and lecturing on the Shroud of Turin for more than 30 years. His presentation makes use of over 200 superb images and unfolds like a “CSI” investigation. Carefully designed to be educational and entertaining, he delivers a dynamic, fast-paced experience. He is a founding member of the Shroud Science Group, an international consortium of scientists and scholars dedicated to further research until the mystery is solved.

Eucharistic Procession

9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7
The Eucharistic Procession, in which Bishop Peter J. Jugis carries a monstrance containing a consecrated host – the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – is a highlight of the two-day Eucharistic Congress.

Join the Eucharistic Procession through uptown Charlotte to the Charlotte Convention Center, where the Eucharistic Congress will be held. It will start at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at St. Peter Church at 507 S. Tryon St. Line up along the procession route as noted at right and join in with your parish once its banner passes.

The 2019 First Communicants will lead the procession along with Bishop Jugis. (They and their parents or guardians, clergy, religious and banner carriers should gather as directed on Tryon Street north of St. Peter Church no later than 8:30 a.m.)

Parents must walk alongside their children throughout the procession.

The Eucharistic Procession will culminate inside Hall A of the convention center, where a Holy Hour will be celebrated starting at 10:15 a.m. Saturday.

Know before you go:

Parking decks are located at The Green (adjacent to St. Peter Church) and the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Flat parking is available at 510 S. Caldwell St. and 510 S. College St. You can also park along the Lynx Blue Line and get off at the 3rd St./Convention Center stop.

The Charlotte Convention Center prohibits outside food from being brought inside. The prohibition includes coolers and other containers of food. Food service options are available in the building, and many restaurants are located around the Convention Center.

Over 80 commercial and informational vendors will be on hand inside the Charlotte Convention Center, from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday night, Sept. 6, and on Saturday, Sept. 7, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6:30 to 8 p.m.

: Published: 08 September 2018

Bishop supports national lay investigation ‘to follow all leads wherever the truth may lead’

CHARLOTTE — The 14th Eucharistic Congress was a time for the people of the Diocese of Charlotte to come together “with one united voice” to pray for healing in the Church, even as Catholics have reacted with “shame, anger, disappoinment, disgust and feelings of betrayal” to recent allegations of child sexual abuse and misconduct, Bishop Peter Jugis said in his homily at the event’s closing Mass Sept. 8.

The Mass marked the culmination of the two-day event at the Charlotte Convention Center, which drew thousands of Catholics from across western North Carolina Sept. 7-8.
This year’s gathering was an opportunity to pray for reparation and healing in the Church, Bishop Jugis said.

Several times during the Eucharistic Congress the Charlotte bishop addressed the abuse crisis that has created turmoil for the Church in the U.S. since allegations arose of sexual misconduct by Church leaders, including a retired archbishop of Washington, D.C., and the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing decades of child sexual abuse by hundreds of priests in six dioceses of that state.

“We come with the intention of offering prayers of reparation for the horrible sins of abuse and misconduct and the sins of the abuse of power and authority that have been committed within our beloved Church,” Bishop Jugis said at the start of his homily.

In his homily, Bishop Jugis recounted his immediate reaction to the news of the scandals, when visiting Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in High Point to install its new pastor, Oblates of St. Francis de Sales Father Peter Leonard on Aug. 18 – just four days after the Pennsylvania grand jury report was released.

The “scandalous revelations” regarding sexual abuse, misconduct and abuse of power by leaders of the Church, he said, made him recoil.

“My heart is very heavy and disgusted,” he said. “We have all been entirely justified in our reactions of shame, anger, disappointment, disgust and feelings of betrayal.

“I share your sorrow and I am truly sorry for these crimes that have been perpetrated against the innocent.”

“This abuse imprints lifelong scars on its victims,” he also said. “In addition, the entire Church has been very seriously wounded.”

“We need to pray for healing in the Church,” the bishop said – for abuse victims, for the perpetrators and for the entire Church.

Bishop Jugis also reiterated his support for Cardinal Daniel DiNardo’s recent call for an investigation into the allegations against retired Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, “an opening of new and confidential channels for reporting complaints against bishops,” and “better procedures” to resolve complains made against bishops.

Bishop Jugis first expressed his full support for these proposals in an Aug. 17 written statement.

“To begin to repair and restore trust,” Bishop Jugis repeated in his homily, “I agree completely with the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that there must be a Vatican visitation and investigation, and the appointment of an independent, national, lay commission with the authority to follow all leads wherever the truth may lead.”

The U.S. bishops are expected to take up the cardinal’s proposals during their next meeting in November.

Catholics must also work to pursue “radical holiness in our own lives,” he added.

“In this Eucharistic Congress, the whole family of the Diocese of Charlotte – clergy, consecrated religious and lay faithful from all parishes of the diocese, schools and ministries – have all come together, and in one united voice beseech the Most Holy Trinity to have mercy on the Church and grant the grace of cleansing and purification and renewal.”

He prayed that the Most Holy Trinity would accept the prayers of the faithful and grant “these most urgent intentions.”

— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor