Dear Faithful of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston,
At a meeting of the American bishops a couple years ago, I voted for a Eucharistic Revival in our country to renew the faith of American Catholics in Christ’s True Presence in the Eucharist. I did so because it is essential that we recognize the One whom we receive in Holy Communion so that we will benefit from the Sacrament and be strengthened to live our faith with integrity and joy.
We are in the first year of that Revival. As part of it, we will have three regional Eucharistic Congresses this spring: April 21-22 in Charles Town, April 28-29 in Wheeling and June 2-3 in Charleston. These events are being planned by a group of religious, lay and diocesan personnel out of love for you, the Lord and all his Church. Our desire is to rekindle in West Virginia Catholics a love for the Lord in his sacramental presence and to motivate our people to bring Christ beyond the walls of our churches to their homes, schools, workplaces and communities.
A nationally recognized speaker will illuminate for us the rich teaching of our Church on the Lord Jesus’ gift of himself in the Eucharist. This keynote address will be followed by a Q & A session and break-out sessions to encourage conversation among the participants. Times of prayer, Eucharistic Adoration and a closing Mass will help us elevate our hearts so that we may live as children of God in faith and love and bear Christ effective witness in the world.
I hope you will join me in attending one of the regional Eucharistic Congresses. It will be time well spent if we let God’s Spirit intensify in us true devotion to the Lord who offered his life for ours on the cross and now offers himself to us in the Eucharist.
Details of the Eucharistic Congresses will be shared with you in the FaithInWV ebulletin, the Catholic Spirit, the diocesan website, your parish priest, and Catholic school principal.
Let us all pray that these regional gatherings in honor of Christ in the Eucharist will reinvigorate us, so that we may, in St. Augustine’s words, become what we eat: men and women, strengthened by God, who serve one another in love as Christ has served us.
Sincerely in Christ,
+Mark E. Brennan
Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston