Two Stories of the Real Presence in the Real NY

Sisters of Life precede a Eucharistic procession that was part of a four-day pilgrimage to the New York State Eucharistic Congress. (Photo: William Schmitt)

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On October 20-22, 2023, the Diocese of Albany hosted thousands of people at a New York State Eucharistic Congress. This effort to inform and inspire Catholics about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is part of the ongoing National Eucharistic Revival initiated by the Bishops of the United States. The Catholic belief, which is essentially shared by the Anglican and Lutheran Churches, holds that, through a miracle, the bread and wine blessed in the liturgy become the body, blood, soul, and divinity of the risen Jesus while the bread-wine appearances remain unchanged.

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Pilgrimage: A Trek in Nature Brings NY State of Mind to Shrine

Published Oct. 28, 2023, in The Tablet, the newspaper of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

ALBANY — Days before some 8,000 Catholics gathered for the New York State Eucharistic Congress, an intrepid team of about three dozen assembled to briefly transform the scenic Empire State Trail from an upstate hiking and cycling route into a local path of pilgrimage.

Previewing the Congress’ goal to deepen devotion to Jesus as really present in the Blessed Sacrament, these New Yorkers walked 57 miles to share their faith in tangible ways, visiting parishes for Eucharistic adoration, meals, and overnight accommodations. They helped communities focus on two destinations — ultimately heaven, and the weekend event at Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville, New York.

Their journey began on Tuesday, Oct. 17, with morning Mass at the Diocese of Albany’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. They received a special blessing from Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, who reminded everyone, “The Lord Jesus is walking with us.” He urged the travelers to “be open” to reflect on the gifts God constantly bestows and to “tell stories” that affirm we are never alone.

This “Way of Martyrs” pilgrimage, traversing towns named Watervliet, Cohoes, Schenectady, and Amsterdam, concluded Friday as many cars and buses were also arriving at the hillside site of the congress. During their days on a road less traveled, those walking viewed neighborhoods, nature’s panoramas, autumn leaves, and the waterways of the Mohawk Valley, evoking historic times of martyred missionaries and the “Lily of the Mohawks,” St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

“It’s wonderful to spend time in God’s creation and to see New York in this way,” said Andrea Reno, one of the pilgrims, an avid hiker and a teacher at St. Pius X School in Loudonville, New York. “We’re passing things I drive right by, but seeing it from a different perspective.

“I’m enjoying the sense of community and camaraderie,” Reno told The Tablet on Wednesday while the group paused to meet with other local Catholics at a park in Niskayuna, near Lock 7 of the Erie Canal.

She reached into her backpack for a booklet with pages written by students aged 5 and 6, as well as adult colleagues. “I’m bringing their prayers with me and praying for their intentions.”

James LaFave, one of the locals who had come to visit with the pilgrims at the park, said his career had made him an advocate for the spiritual value of escapes into natural surroundings.

Now retired, LaFave told The Tablet he frequently had led such walks for students as a campus minister at a Catholic agency for kids whose setbacks affected their mental wellness and academic prospects.

He recalled how “the reflection that’s part of just being out, not spending so much time with digital stuff,” had healing effects on students.

Father Stephen Yusko, one of the two priests who planned and led the pilgrimage, showed a rosary he was using. Each bead was a rolled-up piece of paper bearing the prayer of one his students.

Father Daniel Quinn, a downtown Albany pastor and the group’s other leader, said the parishes extending their hospitality were not limited to Roman Catholic churches. They included St. Ann Maronite Catholic Church, belonging to an Eastern Rite prominent in Lebanon.

St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church gave the visitors “a whole stack of prayers to take with us, to leave at the altar in Auriesville,” Father Quinn said.

“It’s nice because the whole community is uniting,” Father Yusko added. “People who can’t do the walk are still participating in it.”

The idea for a pilgrimage arose a while ago when the two priests, ordained in the Diocese of Albany within the past several years, discussed their respective inspirations from the Camino de Santiago in Spain — an iconic, expansive journey leading to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

“We realized we could create something like that pilgrim experience in our own diocese,” Father Yusko told The Tablet. The Camino attracts many people who are “just searching,” he said, much like young adults in America who describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious.”

“We thought it would be a good example for people to at least search for Christ on the way that’s available nearer to them in their home diocese or in New York in general,” said Father Yusko. 

“We’re hoping that this is the start of something. It happens to coincide, through God’s providence, with New York working on the Empire State Trail,” which spans a total of 750 miles. 

The trail, a project launched in 2017, begins at the tip of Manhattan in Battery Park and heads toward the Canadian border via Albany, where the other segment extends to Buffalo.

“It’s helpful to bring out that there’s a lot of Catholic history and roots here that just need to be explored and taken advantage of to show forth the faith again,” said Father Yusko.

When the priests announced earlier this year that they planned a rigorous, four-day spiritual trek timed with the Eucharistic Congress, 35 laypeople of the diocese volunteered. Their average age was under 40.

The group conducted Friday’s six-mile leg of their journey, from Amsterdam to Auriesville, as a Eucharistic procession, with members of the Sisters of Life preceding Jesus in the monstrance. They concluded with Mass in the shrine’s Kateri Chapel.

The time is right for pilgrimages like the “Way of Martyrs,” Father Yusko added, because so many people are suffering from depression and anxiety. “I just think people are yearning for God, and God is always yearning for us to go to Him. This is an outward expression of that, which is a beautiful thing.”

Catholics need to reach out to society with Christ’s love, he said. “I mean, we’re all pilgrims, right? We’re all journeying home to heaven.”

(Published with permission from DeSales Media, parent company of The Tablet. Find their content here.)

Love in the Liturgy: Leaders and Lay Seek Intimacy and Immensity

Published Oct. 26, 2023, in The Evangelist, the newspaper of the Diocese of Albany.

Thousands of Catholics attend three-day, New York State Eucharistic Congress in Auriesville as Bishop Scharfenberger celebrates concluding Mass. (Photo by William Schmitt)

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Over 11,000 Catholics converged on the hamlet of Auriesville from Oct. 20-22 for a New York State Eucharistic Congress that highlighted both the immensity and the intimacy of a relationship with Jesus, found truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.

The Diocese of Albany, teaming with the Archdiocese of New York and the state’s six other dioceses, hosted a range of activities as a local component of the Church’s National Eucharistic Revival.

The goal — to restore devotion to the Real Presence and its mystery of love — is a “game-changer” for individuals and the world, as Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger put it in his homily at the event’s concluding Mass.

“Jesus changes lives,” he said. “Everyone who comes into Jesus’ presence is somehow transformed by that. If we bear the presence of Christ, yes, my brothers and sisters, we will change the world because God wants to save the world through us.”

The 40-hour schedule at the historic Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs included liturgies as well as nationally known speakers, an expansive and solemn Eucharistic Procession that wound through the shrine’s autumn-colored grounds, inspirational music, abundant opportunities for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and Eucharistic Adoration in the quiet night hours.

More than 300 priests, deacons and seminarians were part of the opening Mass on Saturday, Oct. 21, with Bishop Terry R. LaValley of the Diocese of Ogdensburg as principal celebrant and a total of 17 bishops concelebrating.

The assembly of pilgrims from across the state filled the shrine’s coliseum. Their faces and voices reflected the diversity of the global Church. The many Spanish-speaking participants heard their language during Mass and keynote talks, and various translations were provided, partly with help from a smartphone app.

“I loved the intertwining of Spanish and English and making sure there was that representation,” commented Joliz Claudio, who was part of a student group from St. John’s University in Queens.

Another St. John’s student, Nick Salerno, said the Congress offered encouragement. “Sometimes being a Catholic can feel very lonely.” Surrounded by thousands of people, “you feel the community, and you’re not alone.” He also appreciated “the power of a very reverent Mass. There was so much love that went into that.”

Collections of young adults and all age groups came representing schools, parishes and a number of religious orders. They traveled via cars, vans and approximately 100 chartered buses. Vast parking lots offered regular shuttle service to the shrine. Plenty of families brought their young children.

Tents dotted the hillside, with vendors offering food and Catholic materials. In one tent, the Catholic station on SiriusXM Radio interviewed Congress keynoters.

Speakers included Mother Clare Matthiass, CFR, General Servant (Superior) of the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal; noted philosopher and author Peter Kreeft; and Bishop Joseph A. Espaillat, a Dominican-American pre­late from the Archdiocese of New York.

Cardinal Timothy N. Dolan of the Archdiocese was unable to attend but welcomed the pilgrims on video.

“Our Lord loves us so much that He chooses to remain with us in the Holy Eucharist,” he said. “I pray that through this Eucharistic Congress, many will come to better know, love and serve Him by strengthening our love and faith in this wonderful gift of His Real Presence.”

Bishop Scharfenberger said on Sunday that some activities of the Congress had immediate impact: “I know there already have been lives that have been profoundly changed during our time here, and I thank God for that.”

But personal transformation “is not limited to what happens at one time and one place,” he added. Receiving the love of Jesus in His sacramental presence “makes us into what we consume.”

We must take that love “into our hearts” and out to the world after discerning our personal gifts, our individual vocations, Bishop Scharfenberger said. God is the savior, not us, but we have work to do. “He has chosen us — clay vessels, mortal human beings, sinners though we may be.”

“Every one of us is called to be a saint, without exception,” he said. We can trust in God’s assistance because “He gives the grace to do the impossible.”

Bishop LaValley of Ogdensburg put it this way in his Saturday homily: Consuming Jesus in the Eucharist, “I must become a bearer of that life, of the power I have received at the Lord’s table.”

The call for building relationships on earth and in heaven, through our families and the Church, was amplified at the Auriesville gathering. “A goal of the Eucharistic Revival is to form, to inspire, missionary disciples filled with the love of God and neighbor that comes from an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist,” Bishop LaValley said.

Building a “mission-mindedness,” spending time with Jesus and learning discipleship from the saints, one can find love in everyday encounters with all the individuals we meet, he said. “Every Mass we attend should be a launching pad — a sacred event, where we experience Jesus giving of Himself to us, and we receive, and give ourselves back.”

The Eucharistic Revival is “a call to be more alert to the folks around us,” he said, “even if it means stepping out of our comfort zone.”

Bishop LaValley cited the persevering love that Father Isaac Jogues demonstrated for the Mohawk people as an inspiration for mission-mindedness, despite the risks. Father Jogues and two other Jesuit missionaries, Rene Goupil and John Lalande, were among the North American Martyrs of the 1640s who are remembered at the Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine.

Also remembered: St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born at the shrine site in 1656.

Among the attendees at the weekend Congress, Lisa Utterback from Weedsport, N.Y., said Auriesville held a nostalgic allure. “I haven’t been here in over 40 years, and I felt a desire to come back,” she said. “I was going to use this as an opportunity for a spiritual cleansing — to kind of reset myself and use it to get closer to God.”

Gilbert Rodriguez, who works in the office of adult formation for the Archdiocese, commented, “It’s beautiful to see that people from all over New York State are gathering here with one mind and heart.”

He continued, “My hope is that we carry the graces of this day into our parishes and neighborhoods. As (Bishop LaValley) said in the homily, I hope the Eucharist leads us to mission, empowers us for mission.”

(Published with permission from The Evangelist. See their content here.

(Find links to all of Bill Schmitt’s work for print, podcast, and broadcast at billschmitt.substack.com/about. You can go to “About” in the navbar at my Substack publication, “Phronesis in Pieces.” Please consider subscribing to support this work.)