On Sunday, June 19, 2022, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, the Diocese of Youngstown will begin its participation in the National Eucharistic Revival that has been announced by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and will continue in stages through 2025.

The opening celebration in the Diocese of Youngstown will include Mass at Saint Columba Cathedral on Sunday, June 19, at 10:30am, with a Eucharistic Procession to follow. The Most Rev. David J. Bonnar, Bishop of Youngstown, will preside. Subsequent monthly Masses and Eucharistic Processions will follow in each of the counties of the diocese this summer and Fall, as well as other opportunities over the next three years. The current schedule of events in each county can be found at www.doy.org/EucharisticRevival/.

The June 19, 2022 Mass from Saint Columba Cathedral will also be streamed online at www.doy.org/live/, with coverage of the Eucharistic procession and subsequent Eucharistic Revival initiatives on the Diocese of Youngstown’s social media. The national hashtag is #EucharisticRevival and the local diocesan hashtag is #DioceseofYoungstown.

The National Eucharistic Revival is a three-year process sponsored by the U.S. Catholic Bishops to “inspire and prepare the People of God to be formed, healed, converted, united, and sent out to a hurting and hungry world through a renewed encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist – the source and summit of our Catholic faith” (quote taken from www.EucharisticRevival.org, the website for the National Eucharistic Revival).

The first year, beginning on June 19, 2022 and continuing until June 2023, has been identified as the Year of Diocesan Revival. The Very Rev. John-Michael Lavelle, coordinator of the Eucharistic Revival in the Diocese of Youngstown and the diocese’s Vicar for Missionary Discipleship, says that in the diocesan year, “we will travel to all parts of the diocese, united in the Mass, Eucharistic Processions, and Holy Hours – leading us to a deeper appreciation of the presence of Christ in our lives.”

The second year of the Eucharistic Revival has been identified as the Year of Parish Revival and will run from June 2023 until July 2024. It will include efforts to strengthen eucharistic devotion and experience at the parish level. Father Lavelle notes that, “In the early days of our diocese, a book was prepared, entitled, The March of the Eucharist, which highlighted all the places of worship in which we celebrated the Eucharist – mainly, our parish Churches. The Eucharistic Revival is an opportunity to discover that the ‘march of the Eucharist’ continues in new ways and that, having experienced the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, we are called to share him with the world.”

In July 2024, a National Eucharistic Congress will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana, the tenth in the history of the United States, inaugurating the “Year of Going Out on Mission” until Pentecost 2025.

For more information, please visit www.doy.org/EucharisticRevival/ and www.EucharisticRevival.org.