Redeemed Eucharistic Conference headed to Jamestown September 6–7

The next Redeemed Conference is right around the corner! Situated at the beginning of the final year of the National Eucharistic Revival, this conference is intended to launch the Revival’s Year of Mission within the Diocese of Fargo.

Three phenomenal speakers are lined up for this event. Scott Hahn, Julianne Stanz, and Msgr. Thomas Richter will invite us to encounter our Eucharistic Lord and bring that encounter out into the world. In addition to powerful presentations, the Conference will feature a Eucharistic procession from St. James Basilica to the Jamestown Civic Center, Holy Mass celebrated by Bishop John Folda, Eucharistic Adoration, opportunities for confession, a Eucharistic healing service offered by Father Jeff Eppler, and praise and worship by Aly Aleigha. 

Read on to get a sneak peek of what the speakers will be sharing at the conference Sept. 6–7, their experience of the Eucharistic Revival so far, and more.
Join us as we pray for an outpouring of grace and renewal in our area. Register today at www.fargodiocese.org/redeemed. 

Monsignor Thomas Richter
Msgr. Richter is the pastor of Queen of Peace Church in Dickinson. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Bismarck in 1996. For many years, he served on the Executive Board of the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors and as a faculty member and spiritual director of the Institute for Priestly Formation in Omaha, Neb.
 
Can you give a sneak peek of what you’ll be sharing at the conference?
I am going to focus on the line out of the Gospel of the multiplication of bread, loaves, and fishes. Andrew says there’s a boy with five loaves and two fish. And the other disciples respond, “but what good is so little for so many?”

One of the major aspects of the Eucharist isn’t just about believing in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but believing that we share in the sacrificial offering of Christ to the Father. It is that self-offering that saved the world. Christ was always present in His body and to the Father. That was our salvation. To have the proper dispositions of Mass isn’t simply about believing in the Real Presence of Christ in the host but believing that I share in the self-offering of Christ to the Father. That demands a conscious, active participation on my part.

In other words, if that little boy doesn’t give those puny little five loaves and two fish, the multiplication doesn’t happen. Jesus, on the cross, is those five loaves and two fish. What good is the offering of one human life for all the sin in the world? Well, we know what good it is. When it comes to lacking in faith, lacking in understanding of the Eucharist, the lacking is much more severe about our participation in the self-offering of Christ to the Father at Mass than our lacking in belief of the Real Presence of Christ in the Host. No one is talking about that.
 
What has been your experience of the National Eucharistic Revival? What would you like to see next in North Dakota?
When the revival was announced, I didn’t imagine or expect that it was going to result in a lot of Eucharistic processions and a lot of people joining them. I think it’s directly connected with evangelization, because a Eucharistic procession is bringing Christ into the marketplace, the streets, the neighborhoods, and one’s community. I think the attraction of Eucharistic processions is due to a hidden desire to bring Jesus, to bring the gospel, to bring Christ out into the public square. I would expect the next stage to be a deeper intentional and effective evangelization.
 
Julianne Stanz
Julianne is the Outreach Director of Evangelization and Discipleship at Loyola Press. Formerly she served as Director of Evangelization and Discipleship for the Diocese of Green Bay, Wis. Julianne serves as a Consultant to the USCCB and is a member of the National Eucharistic Revival Executive Team.
 
How have you personally experienced Jesus in the Eucharist?
Of all the experiences in my life, it was my son Sean who gifted me with one of the most powerful understandings of the “bread of life.” As I was tucking him into bed, Sean sat straight up as if he had just connected something in his mind.

“Mom, Mom, is it true?” he said excitedly. “You know how at Mass, Father says to us that if we eat this bread, we will live forever?” With an expectant expression on his small face, he held his chubby hands outstretched as if he was holding the Eucharist between them, just like he had seen our pastor do at Mass. “Mom, is that true?” he asked. “Because if that is true, we will never die, right Mom?”

I felt my eyes filling with tears. During this time, I was having some health issues and so my own mortality was very much on my mind. And yet, this four-year-old child reminded me of the power of the Gospel and the promises of Jesus to remain with us always in the Eucharist. 

Like most people, I also need to recover that sense of the power of Jesus’ promise to us, his beloved children. In the Gospel of John, we hear the words of Jesus to each one of us “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (6:51). 

“Is it true?” my son asked me with a sense of expectant hope. And I answered with every fiber of my being “yes son, it is true. He is true and we will live with Him forever.” 
 
Can you give me a sneak peek of what you will be sharing at the conference?
As an Irish woman, I am known for telling stories! These stories will be interwoven into my talk with references to the Scriptures and Church documents so that people will hopefully leave my talk hearing what it is that the Holy Spirit wants them to hear. As a minister who has worked at all levels of the Church from the Vatican, the diocesan, and the parish levels, it is an honor to be a part of the Eucharistic Revival in North Dakota. As a mother of three children, I will speak from my heart and my real experiences of how to help all people, but particularly our younger generations to connect with the Church through the power of the Eucharist. 

Dr. Scott Hahn
Dr. Hahn is the founder and president of the St. Paul Center, an apostolate dedicated to teaching Catholics to read Scripture from the heart of the Church. He is also the Scanlan Professor of Biblical Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he has taught since 1990. He’s the author of over 40 books.
 
 As Christ leads the Church to refocus in on his Eucharistic presence, how have you seen people respond?
My social media feeds are filled with images of long processions as the national pilgrimage makes its way toward Indiana. People are spending vacation days so they can be there when our Lord walks through their towns. They’re turning out in big numbers. That makes an impression. But I’m also noticing a difference in the quality and number of conversations I’ve had—with students and colleagues and others—in which the Sacrament comes up. It’s more on people’s minds.
 
 What has been your experience of the National Eucharistic Revival? What would you like to see happen next in North Dakota?
My experience has been very positive. People are eager to learn. There are so many events, and so many people are attending them. Those are mostly folks who are already devout or newly roused. But I suspect there’s another group of people whose curiosity has been piqued. Maybe they’re not Catholic, or they’re nominally Catholic, but they happened upon a Eucharistic procession, and it caught their attention. They’re wondering what THAT was all about. And they’re waiting to be offered an invitation or explanation.

One element that often seems to get overlooked in discussions of Eucharistic Revival is the understanding that we cannot bring it about. Not even the great authority of the bishops can command revival. It is a gift of God that we should beg for.

That doesn’t mean that there’s nothing we can do. We should also prepare for it with the confidence that our Lord longs to grant it more than we want to receive it. We need to recognize that we are facing more than a crisis of catechesis. In Scripture and in the history of the Church, revival follows repentance. I know of no exceptions to this pattern.