St. Louis Church in Louisville to host a 'Eucharistic' revival

LOUISIVLLE − Concerns over Catholics' beliefs about the Eucharist have become such an issue that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops launched a three-year Eucharistic revival in 2022.

St. Louis/Sacred Heart Catholic Church is doing its part.

Starting Thursday, St. Louis, at 300 N. Chapel St., will host "Living the Eucharist Through Lent 2023," from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on March 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30.

Speakers include Walsh University theologians Chris Seeman, Joseph Torma, Monsignor Michael Cariglio, Phil Pillin, and Temple Israel Rabbi Emeritus John Spitzer.

The Rev. Thomas Cebula, parish administrator, said a growing number of Catholics have drifted from the core tenet of "Transubstantiation," the belief that Jesus literally inhabits the elements administered during Holy Communion.

"It's an attempt at adult formation but within the context of Catholic depreciation, what Catholics would term as the real presence of Jesus," he said. "In terms of public surveys, of Catholics being surveyed, you see the percentage is like 20% who believe in the real presence of Jesus. So many say it's simply symbolic, so that is quite a crisis in the Catholic church."

No easy answer for the drift

Cebula said there's no easy answer as to why some Catholics have drifted from this important tenet.

"It could be confusion over the Second Vatican Council, or poor catechesis (teaching)," he said.

In organizing the program, Cebula said, he reached out to contacts at Walsh University where he served as a campus chaplain for 10 years.

"I met with some of the representatives of the theology faculty and asked them, 'Would you be interested in putting on an adult faith formation in regards to helping Catholics understand and recoup their faith in Jesus and his real presence in the Eucharist as Catholics understand that?' So that was the origin of this, to try to respond to the crisis in the church in terms of faith and in the Eucharist."

Bonnie Witmer, a longtime parishioner who worked at the former St. Louis Catholic School under a district-funded speech, reading, and hearing program, agrees with Cebula that there's a dearth in religious instruction.

"I am in total agreement with Father," she said. "I think that's where we dropped the ball. Nowadays, children, as a rule, have less and less Catholic schools offering the education, and parents are not getting their children to CCD (Sunday school) programs. These kids are receiving Communion as a thing you just do; they aren't really encountering the real presence of Jesus."

Fellow parishioner Shelly Swierz, who calls herself a "card-carrying Catholic," said she worries about the dwindling numbers attending Mass. Across the U.S., attendance of all worship services has been in a precipitous decline for decades. According to statistics, just 30% of Christians attend church more than once a month. It has resulted in closings and, in the case of Catholicism, merged parishes and shuttered schools.

St. Louis currently has about 450 registered families, down from 850 families 10 years ago.

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"Carry, marry, bury"

"I just think it's so frightening," she said. "COVID didn't help. You almost go for two years, and now you have a new habit. A lot of people I know still watch it on TV. They just got into that habit, and then it carries on. Unfortunately, even the children, for CCD, it seems like the parents drop them off and pick them up. They don't even take their children to church."

Swierz recalled a conversation with a Catholic who described herself as "Carry, Marry, Bury."

"I was so shocked, I said, 'What is that?' She said, 'I got carried into the church for baptism. I went to the church and got married, and I'll go back to get buried.'"

Swierz said she thinks the revival will be enlightening.

"These programs, I think, will be a real eye-opener for people," she said. "I'm really looking forward to them."

Cebula said doctrine of Christ in the Eucharist is based in Scripture and was embraced by the early church fathers, adding that the Orthodox Church also believes in transubstantiation.

"St. Justin Martyr in the second century explicitly stated that this is not a symbol; that Jesus is truly and really present," he said.

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Cebula said many of the students he served at Walsh take their faith seriously.

"There was a group of students who were enthused about their faith and embraced this understanding of the real presence," he said. "But even at Walsh, we were dealing with a lot of nominalism. The challenges are greater, in terms of a wider segment of the university population, but I do think a significant number of students from Walsh are active with their faith."

Cebula reiterated that Catholics treating the Eucharist as symbolic is incongruent with church doctrine.

"I'm not saying to blame them, but this does not express what we truly believe," he said.

Eucharistic revival speakers schedule:

March 2 - 7 p.m., Professor Chris Seeman, "God in Our Midst: Divine Presence in Sacred Scripture."

March 9 - 7 p.m., Professor Joseph Torma, "The Social Dimension of the Eucharist."

March 16 - 7 p.m., Professor Chris Seeman, "The Commissioning Account in the Four Gospels."

March 23 - 7 p.m., Monsignor Michael Cariglio and Professor Phil Pillin, "Adoration Traditions in the Parish."

March 30 - 7 p.m., Rabbi John Sitzer and Chris Seeman, "The Seder and the Last Supper from a Jewish and Christian Perspective."

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: St. Louis/sacred Heart parish hosts 5-week Eucharist Revival