Congress shows off the Church’s broad variety of ordained, religious vocations
Women religious, wearing a variety of habits, take part in a eucharistic procession on July 20 in downtown Indianapolis during the National Eucharistic Congress. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)
By Sean Gallagher
Walk through the halls of the Indiana Convention Center, in Lucas Oil Stadium or the nearby downtown streets of Indianapolis from July 17-21 during the National Eucharistic Congress and you were sure to see a wide variety of clerical attire and religious habits.
Priests and seminarians were among the crowds, sometimes in black shirts with a Roman collar, at other times in cassocks. Men and women religious showed off a great spectrum of colors and styles, from the white habits of Dominicans to the black habits of Benedictines and nearly every other color in between.
Nearly 10% of all congress attendees were bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians or religious, with some 200 bishops, 1,300 priests, 650 deacons, 700 seminarians and 1,200 men and women religious.
The statistics confirmed ordained and religious vocations represented a big part of the National Eucharistic Congress, but with events like the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) being held in Indianapolis every other year, experiencing such an emphasis on vocations at large Catholic events has become a regular part of the formation of archdiocesan seminarians.
“It gives them a chance to see and to serve the larger Church beyond our archdiocese and to recognize that we are part of something bigger within the universal Catholic Church,” said Father Eric Augenstein, archdiocesan director of seminarians. “Because we host these events, our seminarians are able to experience firsthand the interaction between the local Church and the universal Church. Other dioceses probably don’t have the opportunities for that.”
‘This is about the Lord’
Archdiocesan seminarians sometimes had high profile roles at the congress.
Tens of thousands of people saw them leading hundreds of bishops, priests, deacons and religious in a eucharistic procession on the streets of Indianapolis and in processions at liturgies in Lucas Oil Stadium.
Seminarian Casey Deal was one of those seminarians. He has worked for much of his summer to prepare for liturgies at the congress.
But some of that work was hidden and menial—like polishing brass candlesticks to be used during congress Masses and in adoration.
Whether other people see his work or not doesn’t matter to Deal.
“This is about the Lord,” said Deal, a member of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Bloomington. “This eucharistic congress is to glorify him in the Eucharist. So, if I’m shining this up to glorify him more, then that, in and of itself, is fine.”
The NCYC held in 2023 in Indianapolis was the second national youth gathering that Deal assisted at as a seminarian, although the first one since he became a candidate for holy orders. Because of that, he wore clerical attire.
“I loved it,” he said. “People look at you differently. I enjoyed the fact that people saw Christ because they saw the collar. They saw someone who might bring them closer to Christ, as I’m trying to get closer to Christ as well.”
Transitional Deacon Liam Hosty, an archdiocesan seminarian, assisted at the altar at the closing Mass of the congress on July 21 in Lucas Oil Stadium. In his eight years of priestly formation, he’s worked at a number of large Catholic events and knows well how they contribute to his formation for ordained ministry.
“It’s been preparing me to one day help people encounter Christ in the Eucharist as a priest,” Deacon Hosty said. “We’ve been set apart so we can serve the people. It’s not a magnet to say, ‘Hey, look at me.’ But during the conferences, people will come to me and ask questions about where things are happening, or ask for prayer. They’ll talk about their vocation. Wearing clerics sparks conversations with people.”
‘A beautiful witness for the whole Church’
Benedictine Sister Jeana Visel, a member of Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, Ind., in the Evansville, Ind., Diocese was present at the congress, representing Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad, where she serves as dean for its school of theology programs.
Wearing a black Benedictine veil, Sister Jeana said events like the congress provide many ways for women to meet women religious that might be hard otherwise.
“When I was discerning, I didn’t know any nuns,” said Sister Jeana, who entered religious life in 2003. “I didn’t have any opportunities to meet any nuns.
“So, if there are people who are discerning, they get to see that nuns exist and plant the seed of an idea. And it’s an opportunity for them to meet and talk with lots of sisters from lots of orders and begin conversations and contacts. Then they can visit and continue that discernment.”
Sister Mary Maximilian Ruskamp and Sister John Marion Feldner attended the congress from Lincoln, Neb., where they are members of the School Sisters of Christ the King, a community founded in 1976.
Wearing a distinctive light blue and white habit, they assisted congress attendees who visited St. John the Evangelist Church, which served as a perpetual adoration chapel adjacent to the convention center during the congress.
“It’s been a beautiful witness for the whole Church to see the blessing of religious life, to see that it is very much still alive and a part of the Church, even though we may be more hidden sometimes,” said Sister Mary Maximilian. “To see so many religious gathered in such diversity shows the wealth and the beauty of the Church.”
“So many of us have fears,” said Sister John Marion. “But when we encounter Jesus, then he faces our fears and that helps us to open ourselves to him. Us being here witnesses to how Jesus has been able to reign over us and to conquer our fears so that we can allow him to love us even more deeply.
“The witness of so many sisters who are here has the beauty of showing that in so many ways. Each sister has a unique relation with Jesus as her bridegroom. For each one of us to show that in a different way is really beautiful.”
‘These people need a shepherd’
Gabriel Sappington and Weston Warner, two college seminarians for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri also assisted at St. John during the congress.
They receive priestly formation at Conception Seminary College in Conception, Mo., in the rural northwest corner of the “Show me State.”
Late in the afternoon of July 17, the opening day of the congress, they were amazed to see 1,000 people fill St. John to pray Evening Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar.
“Whenever you see so many people, there’s a feeling in your heart like, ‘These people need a shepherd,’ ” said Sappington, who will be a fourth-year seminarian at Conception in the fall. “When you’re there with all those people, I don’t know what it is, but it has an impact on you. I’ve had multiple conversations, and I could see people’s faith in them. It was tangible. Faith is a gift. For God to show me faith in someone else, it increases my own.”
Warner was similarly moved by seeing so many people showing such love for Christ in the Eucharist.
“You get to come to events like this where there’s a huge flock,” said Warner, about to enter his third year of formation at Conception. “Some day, I’m going to have a flock—it won’t be this big—and it’ll be my job to get [Jesus] on the altar to them. That’s inspiring.”
‘True happiness is living with Christ’
Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, spoke to The Criterion during the congress about how Catholics called to lay vocations and Catholics called to ordained or religious vocations assist each other in their particular calling.
“There’s always a mutual sort of edification of vocations … in the Church,” he said. “One of the great blessings of this kind of event is that people get to know each other a little better. They get to see how big the Church is. You make contacts. There’s no substitute for talking to people. Vocations do that.”
Elias Franco-Bravo was glad to meet so many seminarians, priests and religious at the congress. It wasn’t a new experience for the 16-year-old Catholic from Riverside, Ill. It happened for him at NCYC in Indianapolis last November.
“It helps me go toward my vocation,” said Elias. “I’ve been discerning for a few years now. For me, the priests and the religious who are here make such a big impact on my life and on my discernment. It shows me that true happiness is living with Christ.”
(For more information on archdiocesan seminarians and a vocation to the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, visit www.HearGodsCall.com.) †
(See all of our coverage of the National Eucharistic Congress at www.archindy.org/congress.)
