The congress is expected to have a festival-like atmosphere, similar to World Youth Day, and will likely draw a crowd of 80,000 faithful.
According to the event’s website, the bishops hope the congress will draw American Catholics “into a deeper intimacy with our eucharistic Lord, allowing our eyes to be opened and our hearts to be set on fire with his love.”
The National Eucharistic Revival campaign is in part the bishops’ response to a decline in belief among Catholics regarding a key tenet of the faith.
The decision to undertake the initiative followed a 2019 Pew survey that revealed that only 31% of Catholics believe in a basic tenet of their faith — that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly, really, and substantially present in the Eucharist.
“We seek to invite people to a transformative encounter with Christ in the Eucharist that they might be healed, unified, and sent on mission,” said the U.S. bishops’ Evangelization and Catechesis chair Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota.
Next year’s congress will be the 10th National Eucharistic Congress and the first since 1941, according to the event’s website.