Why do we celebrate an event called a eucharistic congress?

Perhaps it would help to go back in history about 150 years. In late 18th century France, after the terrible anti-religious excesses of the French Revolution and during the anti-Catholic and indeed anti-religious movement in much of France, there were individuals who thought — and rightly so — that a response to growing secularization, anti-clericalism and anti-Catholicism was transformation in Christ through prayer — especially through prayer before the Eucharist and through fervent holy Communion.

It was through the work of a woman, Emilie-Marie Tamisier, that a number of people began to make special eucharistic pilgrimages. She spoke to her confessor, who providentially was the founder of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, St. Pierre Julian Eymard, about the possibility of something she called a eucharistic congress.

Now we think of Congress as a legislative body that works — or perhaps sometimes doesn’t work — here in Washington.

• receive the Eucharist fervently.

• have a public demonstration of faith in the Eucharist.

• discuss among themselves the implications of their eucharistic belief.

After long efforts, when even the support of Pope Leo XIII did not seem sufficient to get people interested in her idea, two industrialists from Lille, France, who were interested in the social doctrine of the Church, made it possible for Emilie-Marie Tamisier to realize her dream. The First International Eucharistic Congress took place in Lille, a city with a heavily socialist influence. From June 28 through 30, 1881, more than 8,000 people took part, with participants coming not only from France, or else it wouldn’t have been international, but from Austria, Belgium, Chile, Greece, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.

In addition to Masses, processions and periods of adoration, the delegates discussed ways of returning the laws of God to their proper place in public and social life.

Doesn’t all of this sound appropriate today?

More international eucharistic congresses were scheduled, but not without difficulty. In London, in 1908, the civil authorities did not allow an outdoor eucharistic procession, and so the participants held a procession without the Eucharist, and 25,000 adults and 20,000 children took part!

In planning for the event, a priest came from Melbourne, Australia, which had hosted the previous eucharistic congress. He told me, "You’ve got to explain to people that a eucharistic congress is like spiritual Olympic Games!"

The eucharistic congress in Philadelphia had as its theme "The Eucharist and the Hungers of the Human Family."

Those hungers were not only the hunger for food and for God, but also for freedom, for truth, for justice, for peace and, of course, for the Eucharist. There was an attempt to show that there can be no true peace or justice without a spiritual transformation, without the conversion of people's hearts.

A chill still goes down my spine when I recall the opening procession of that eucharistic congress on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia on Aug. 1. Approximately 1 million people, bearing candles, first processed out to the parkway and then sank to their knees in adoration as the float bearing the Eucharist passed among them on its way to the platform where Benediction would be given.

The late Cardinal John J. Krol of Philadelphia, who was, by the way, a great supporter of the Knights of Columbus, and who had taken the risk of hosting the congress when no other U.S. diocese would accept the responsibility, was approached during the procession by a Philadelphia industrialist who said to him, "I’ve never seen anything like this! Do you have enough money to cover your expenses?"

Cardinal Krol answered, "No." The industrialist asked, "How much do you need?" The cardinal said: "We’ll have a debt of about $1 million." The industrialist said: "No you won’t. Send someone to see me tomorrow and you’ll have your million." And he made good on his promise, with a bonus of about $40,000 because some stock he sold to make the donation had just gone up in value!

I remember one day when Masses were offered for various ethnic groups. The local police force where St. Charles Seminary is located on the outskirts of Philadelphia would not provide any special traffic control for the Irish Mass to be held on the grounds because they said the crowd wouldn’t be large enough to warrant special traffic control. Traffic was held up for miles when about 40,000 people tried and eventually succeeded in arriving at the seminary to celebrate their Irish Catholic heritage.

The closing Mass of the congress brought more than 120,000 people to John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia for a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Robert Knox of Melbourne, in the presence of U.S. President Gerald Ford, and with the active participation of about 60 cardinals, including Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Cracow, Poland, who had celebrated Mass and preached on the theme of "The Eucharist and the Hunger for Freedom."

For me, one of the more important aspects of the eucharistic congress of 1976 was the follow-up — an aspect I strongly recommend to you.

One result was “Operation Rice Bowl," a program of Lenten sacrificial giving for the hungry around the word. Another follow-up was a program of adult education and reaching out to inactive Catholics and those not of the faith. You Knights have a long history of such work, which needs only to be intensified.

So why have a eucharistic congress?

To manifest your faith, to deepen your faith and to share your faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Eucharist, the living bread which he has left us, and in the Church which he established to help us and all people on our path to eternal life.

Archbishop John P. Foley is a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Council 4546 in Philadelphia. As president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications he collaborates with the Knights on papal telecasts from Rome, for which he provides the English language narration.