Packed adoration chapel at National Eucharistic Congress overflows with devotion to Jesus

Throughout the week, the perpetual adoration chapel at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis has been full to overflowing. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

Indianapolis, Ind., Jul 22, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

It was standing room only at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in downtown Indianapolis for much of the week as a steady stream of Catholics attending the 10th National Eucharistic Congress popped in and out of the church to pray before Jesus in the Eucharist.

The church suspended its regular Masses for the week to serve as the perpetual adoration chapel for the nearly 60,000 Catholics attending the Eucharistic congress July 17–21. Located across the street from the Indiana Convention Center where much of the event’s liturgies, workshops, panels, and exhibits were taking place, the historic church became home base for many attendees. 

Throughout the week, religious sisters stood under a tent outside the church handing out rosaries and slips of paper to attendees, inviting them to write down their prayer intentions for them to take to the Blessed Sacrament.

Sister Dominica, a Dominican Sister of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, an order based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, told CNA on Saturday that the sisters had received at least 2,000 prayer requests.

“We keep having to make runs to Jesus!” she said.

Sister Dominica and several members of her community were taking a shift under the tent in an effort organized by the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious and carried out by several orders of religious sisters. The Eucharistic prayer initiative has a special meaning for their order, she said.

“It’s a real outreach of our own — our own charism of Eucharistic adoration and promoting that devotion in the church. And we’re huge supporters of this Eucharistic revival,” Sister Dominica said. 

On the last full day of the conference, CNA spoke with some of those outside the church about their experience in adoration before the Eucharist and at the National Eucharistic Congress, an event planned by the U.S. bishops to help foster a deeper encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist. 

Andrew Niewald, a theology teacher from Beloit, Kansas, told CNA that he has been inspired by seeing so many other people in adoration share a faith and love for Jesus in the Eucharist.

“I believe that just seeing so many people here that believe in the Eucharist, you go into an adoration like that, where there seems to be hundreds of people just in almost complete silence, praying deeply. That moves your soul. It speaks to your soul a little bit,” Niewald said.

“You know, all of us probably get lost in our own churches where sometimes we feel like we’re battling an uphill battle, maybe because the real world meets our beliefs. And you just think that you’re the only one that stays with the Lord as they did in John 6. It’s very beautiful to be here with the masses that believe,” he said.

After spending time in the adoration chapel, Abigale LaFave, 17, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, told CNA that what she saw in the church also moved her.

“It is striking how there are so many people, and yet it is silent, and everybody’s attention is right on the Lord. I think that is what touched my heart the most, just the magnitude of people, and yet the reverence and the silence before him,” she said.

“It is a gorgeous church. Architecture should glorify the Lord, and this one definitely does it,” LaFave said of St. John’s, which was built in 1867.

“It’s a great community. Everybody is so on fire and so in love with the Lord, and just being in special adoration with those people, it is really moving,” said LaFave, who attended the congress with her family.

Victoria Smith, 20, of Maitland, Florida, upon leaving the church, told CNA that she has felt closer to Jesus after spending time in adoration while at the conference.

“I’ve never been much for adoration before, but you got to let go of all the thoughts like ‘I’m not praying right.’ Because the truth is, when you’re with someone you love, you’re not always talking to them, and not all your conversations are about something so deep. And not all of your conversations are going to change your life, but they’re all beautiful,” she said.

“Like your conversations with your mother, or if you’re just sitting with her at the breakfast table. What’s important is the love there, not always the words that [are] said.”

Nancy Betkoski of Beacon Falls, Connecticut, told CNA that sharing the experience of prayer with so many other Catholics has been “a touch of heaven.”

She said she had been writing in her journal during Eucharistic adoration and was reminded of her childhood desire to be a missionary.

Attending the conference with a friend, Betkoski said: ”We want to be here to be used for good. So we’re open to his mission.”

“I really hope that people will just be renewed knowing that they can have a friendship with Jesus. That’s what I really want, is people to have a friendship with Jesus. I’d say he’s my best friend,” she said.

Dominique Barksdale, 28, of Flossmoor, Illinois, told CNA that she has found her experience a challenging one.

“I was not expecting to go this way. I was expecting just to have fun and fellowship. And now I’m just like, I’m exhausted. I’ve been crying multiple times — it’s just the Spirit is moving,” she said.

Barksdale said that she hopes to develop a deeper awareness of Jesus after this experience.

“I carve out three hours with God every day. But am I being conscious of Jesus Christ? So I’m hoping after this, I’ll have Jesus as a priority, too. I feel like I’ve almost put him on a back burner. So it’s a hard thing to confront,” she said.

“I’m just trying to let the Holy Spirit lead me. And I saw that wonderful artwork that was in the conference room, the exhibit hall, that has Jesus in the monstrance. So that really helped me last night when the procession was happening — to imagine him walking in, not just the monstrance, but Jesus coming in,” she said.

Salvador Cerda of Joliet, Illinois, and his wife, Jenny, told CNA that in the 50 years they have been married, this is the first time they have taken a trip alone. Salvador said he felt called to attend the congress.

“The Lord made it possible. Any other time, I wouldn’t have been able to afford to come. But he made it possible this year. I don’t know why. It just all fell in place,” Salvador Cerda said.

“When I heard about the congress, something hit me. I got to go. I got to be there. I’ve been walking this journey with Our Lord, and more and more, I started attending daily Mass, and I see the Lord. I see him there, and I see him calling me for whatever, to inspire people, to move people, to to work with people. I just wanted to be here to share that love with others,” he said.

“But I’m surprised how many people are here. I just can’t believe it. That’s a feeling that I had before in the liturgies when we have the full choir and meditations,” he said with tears in his eyes.

“I miss that. We don’t have that now. It’s a historic church, but it’s very small. We don’t have that congregation that joins in with the choir and just sings their hearts. I just had to be here. I said, I got to share this with somebody. I got to be with somebody, with others that believe and love Christ. I just had to be here,” Cerda said.