50,000 Catholics expected at Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis

More than 50,000 Catholics from across the United States are set to arrive in Indianapolis next week for the church’s first national gathering in more than 80 years, marking one of the most significant religious events the city has ever hosted.

The National Eucharistic Congress, scheduled for July 17-21 at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium, will feature church services, speakers, presentation sessions, religious sacraments and an exhibition space, along with a display of artwork and historic pieces. It will also offer live podcast recordings and activations along Georgia Street, including an acoustic music stage.

The event, which elevates the Sacrament of Holy Communion, is open to church clergy, groups, families and individuals—both Catholic and non-Catholic. The National Eucharistic Congress hasn’t been held since 1941 and is expected to be the largest formal gathering for the church since the International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia hosted more than 1.5 million over a single week in 1976.

U.S. church leaders hope this year’s event rejuvenates interest in Catholicism, said Tim Glemkowski, CEO of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc. The effort comes at a time when research and surveys indicate adherence to organized religion in general is on the decline. The Roman Catholic Church continues to deal with fallout related to a decades-long sexual abuse scandal, as well as continued questions about the direction of the church amid changes in the political and social landscape.

The event is also meant to help Catholics develop a deeper understanding of the Eucharist. Catholics believe the bread and wine that are part of communion become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Most Protestant denominations believe the bread and wine represent the body and blood of Christ.

In 2014, a poll from Pew Research Center determined about 18% of Hoosiers were Catholic. According to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, that figure has fallen to about 16% of the state, or 1.1 million, even as the overall population has increased. Indianapolis today has about 130,370 Catholics.

Glemkowski said Indianapolis is an ideal spot for the national gathering because of its proximity to a large portion of the U.S. population. The church, he said, is focused on adding to its membership through specific outreach programs, rather than relying solely on individuals predisposed to joining or remaining in the church through cultural traditions or upbringing.

That’s why the church opted against hosting the event in a Catholic hotbed like Boston, Chicago or Philadelphia.

In addition, Indianapolis has significant experience hosting religious events. The city every other year hosts the National Catholic Youth Conference, which brings about 25,000 teens to the city. And just this summer, the city hosted the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, with 16,000 attendees; The Gospel Coalition’s National Women’s Conference, with 8,500 attendees; and this week’s Church of God International General Assembly, with 12,000 attendees.

According to data from Visit Indy, the city’s tourism agency, Indianapolis has hosted more than 220 religious events over the past decade, totaling more than 665,000 attendees. The events have collectively generated nearly $513 million for the Indianapolis economy.

Indianapolis was one of three cities considered in a final round of bids to host the Congress and was selected by a council of bishops, who are church leaders appointed by the pope to oversee certain regions of their country. Indianapolis secured the gathering in November 2021, within a few months of catching the eye of organizers. Indianapolis Archbishop Charles Thompson, who was on the selection committee, advocated extensively for the city, Glemkowski said.

“If we really want this to be a national effort, somewhere right in the heartland makes a lot of sense,” Glemkowski said. “Indianapolis is seen as a very friendly and welcoming place, and there are a lot of religious groups who are blessed by that welcoming nature.”

Pilgrimage, processional

Some of those making the trip to Indianapolis are doing so as the conclusion of two-month, on-foot and vehicular pilgrimages from four parts of the United States—San Francisco; Lake Itasca, Minnesota; New Haven, Connecticut; and Brownsville, Texas.

Those journeys, which have all now reached central Indiana, have drawn more than a quarter-million people along their respective routes to offer encouragement and prayer, the church said. The routes will conclude in downtown on July 16, where the groups of travelers will participate in a mass—a Catholic church service—ahead of the beginning of the Congress the following day.

Ken Ogorek is executive director for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis, an office that focuses on helping create educational opportunities in the Catholic Church. He has also been extensively involved in helping organize local efforts related to the National Eucharistic Congress.

He said in addition to the pilgrimages and other events throughout the weekend, the Congress will offer an opportunity for local Catholics to participate in a processional through downtown. The route begins just inside the Capitol Street doors of the Indiana Convention Center and will conclude at the steps of the Indiana War Memorial, where remarks and a benediction will be delivered to a crowd gathered at American Legion Mall.

The two-hour, 1.2-mile processional is expected to draw up to 60,000 people. It is considered a sacred passage by event organizers because it will display a sacramental wafer, or host, that has been consecrated, which means it has been blessed in a manner that represents the presence of Christ. The monstrance, or decorative vessel that displays the host, was blessed by Pope Francis, Ogorek said.

Pope Francis will not attend the Congress but is expected to send an envoy.

“The procession has a specific focus on one or more aspects and elements of Catholic faith and life,” Ogorek said. “You could think of this Eucharistic procession as a prayerful parade featuring Jesus himself.”

A different animal

Several denomination-centered events held in Indianapolis over the past year have been policy-focused, but the National Eucharistic Congress is more focused on worship and creating inroads for potential converts, Glemkowski said. Catholic Church policy is typically set by the Vatican, on a global scale, and nationally by the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops.

At the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis in June, the denomination narrowly rejected a ban on churches with female pastors (although it also voted to oust a Virginia congregation for having a female pastor) and told couples they should not use in vitro fertilization to create a family.

The United Church of Christ brought more than 4,000 people to Indianapolis last week, also with a focus on setting and examining policy measures. During that event, church committees determined that their church considers abortion health care, affirmed trans and non-binary individuals, and declared extensive use of solitary confinement in prisons to be torture.

Glemkowski acknowledged that, while each of those events and several others held in Indianapolis in recent years have also had elements of religious worship, the National Eucharistic Congress is specifically “a time of prayer and encountering Jesus”—with a hope that those encounters create service and growth opportunities for participants.

“So to come together in this gathering—to highlight that core, central foundational reality—we don’t think in any way is not wanting to draw attention to those broader issues, or not wanting the church to engage in those things,” Glemkowski said. “What we are doing is, is focusing on that relationship first, and from there inviting people on a mission.”

Harry Schmidt, CEO of the Indianapolis-based Religious Conference Management Association, said Indianapolis is well-positioned to welcome the Catholic gathering given its success with past religious conferences, including those focused on denominational policy.

He said the National Eucharistic Congress is “one of those top-tier national and global events” that many cities have long had interest in hosting, and for Indianapolis to get the first event in 80 years is a major victory.

“When you have a legacy organization like the Catholic Church, that has a history of hundreds and hundreds of years, and they identify their national gathering—really, a global gathering—as being best placed in Indianapolis, it’s fantastic,” he said.

While the Religious Conference Management Association was not involved in the bidding effort for the gathering, Schmidt said he expects many other faiths will keep a close eye on Indianapolis over the coming weeks and likely move the city to the top of their list of future event locations.

Chris Gahl, executive vice president of Visit Indy, said the organization has made a concerted effort to pursue religious events as one of its cornerstones, alongside medical and life sciences, technology, and—in partnership with the Indiana Sports Corp.—major sporting events.

“Over the last decade alone, we have built up the sheer volume of faith-based and religious conferences we’ve hosted, but we’ve also diversified the types of religious organizations that have selected Indianapolis as their host city,” he said. “Indy continually ranks as one of the top destinations for these meetings, and that’s because of our time-tested playbook of hosting a very diverse roster of major religious meetings and our relationships with planners.”•