Wow Cardinal Dolan at the Opening Mass of the Eucharistic Congress for 50,000 Faithful and with 1,000 Cardinals, Bishops and Priests!

Cardinal Timothy Dolan Celebrated the Opening Mass for 50,000 on the First Full Day of National Eucharistic Congress. The Archbishop of New York processed into the stadium with about 1,000 of his brother cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and priests from around the country.
“Never are we closer to God and to each other in His Church than when we gather around the sacred table of the altar to be fed by the bread of Heaven, the Most Holy Eucharist,” Cardinal Dolan said
Cardinal Timothy Dolan opened the first full day of the National Eucharistic Congress by celebrating Mass for 50,000 pilgrims at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Thursday.


“You have given them bread from Heaven, having all sweetness within it.’ My fellow pilgrims, to open this first full day of our historic Eucharistic Congress, with this holy meal of the Eucharist is fitting indeed, no?” Cardinal Dolan said, opening his homily. “Never are we closer to God and to each other in His Church than when we gather around the sacred table of the altar to be fed by the bread of Heaven, the Most Holy Eucharist.”
During the Mass, Cardinal Dolan also recognized those who participated in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage from start to finish, which departed from four respective corners of the United States on May 17, and ended on July 16 in Indianapolis. “Where are our heroes, those perpetual pilgrims who walked 60 days in company with the Most Blessed Sacrament? Where are the perpetual pilgrims?” The stadium resounded with applause for the 30 perpetual pilgrims.
“To recover the centrality of Sunday Mass as God’s people are fed with the Bread of Life has to be the resolve of this grand Eucharistic congress,” Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, the principal celebrant, said in the homily reflecting on Jesus’ “Bread of Life Discourse” in John 6.
“As Pope Francis has repeated: ‘no Eucharist, no church,'” the cardinal continued.
Following the liturgy, the morning’s seven “impact sessions” — specific tracks offered for three mornings during the congress — took that message to heart as speakers encouraged the tens of thousands of Congress-goers to enter more deeply into the day’s theme of understanding the Eucharist as “the greatest love story.”
At the same time as Mass was celebrated at the stadium, two other liturgies took place at the congress, including a Mass celebrated in Spanish by Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston and concelebrated by multiple bishops and many priests. Following the Spanish Mass, hundreds of Latino Catholics participated in the Spanish-language impact session: Encuentro.
Later on, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston reflected on what the Eucharist meant to the early church — particularly the martyrs — and noted that the dialogue prayed at the start of the Mass’s Eucharistic prayer goes back to the church’s earliest days.
“They took the Eucharist very seriously and very realistically because they knew they could die as martyrs,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “The reality of the body and blood of Christ runs through the early days of the church. The next time you go to Mass and say, ‘We lift up our hearts,’ think of these martyrs, since we live in an age when there are still martyrs.”Cardinal Dolan has served as Archbishop of New York since 2009. Pope Benedict XVI elevated him to cardinal in 2012.
The National Eucharistic Congress is a five-day event that concludes both the National Eucharistic Revival, which began in 2021, and the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. The congress lasts through Sunday, July 21.

With information from OSV and Goodnewsroom