In the Apostolic Constitution on Catholic Universities, Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Pope St. John Paul II wrote that “every Catholic university is to maintain communion with the universal Church and the Holy See; it is to be in close communion with the local Church and in particular with the diocesan bishops of the region or nation in which it is located. In ways consistent with its nature as a university, a Catholic university will contribute to the Church’s work of evangelization.”
A Catholic university is not the Church; rather, it derives its Catholic character and identity from the Church. As such, when the Blessed Sacrament was carried from Little Flower Catholic Church in South Bend, Indiana, on July 5, 2024, and processed onto the campus of the University of Notre Dame, the university’s foundation and calling was again made manifest. “Born from the heart of the Church,” the Catholic university contributes to the work of evangelization in the way appropriate to a university. After the joyous celebration of Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart to welcome the Lord and his pilgrims to campus, Notre Dame did indeed offer its distinct contribution as a Catholic university.
Panel of experts
Two experts from the McGrath Institute for Church Life participated in a panel hosted by Jason Shanks, the new Executive Director of the National Eucharistic Congress, Inc. Both Katherine Angulo, program director of the Thriving in Ministry Initiative, and Dr. Tim O’Malley, associate director of research in the McGrath Institute, have served on the executive committee for the National Eucharistic Revival. Angulo recounted experiences of renewal she witnessed while working with dioceses across the country over the past three years. These were stories of unity and charity, healing and hope. In his remarks, O’Malley spoke to five aspects of Eucharistic transformation, which are grounded in sacramental theology and flourish through a fully personal, fully communal Eucharistic spirituality. These aspects include the rediscovery of the Real Presence, passing over from violence to sacrifice, participating in Christ’s gift-giving, the unity of Christians through the Sacrament, and the renewed commitment to human dignity and the consecration of the world. Drawing in part from Pope Benedict XVI’s Deus Caritas Est, O’Malley identified “solidarity [as] the proper disposition for a Eucharistic people, who have come to see that our worship and our responsibility for each other go together.”
Lecture series
This exploration of what it means to be a Eucharistic people was not limited to the two days when the university’s campus served as a waystation on the “Marian Route” to the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. Instead, this scholarly and spiritual reflection began in earnest back in January, as part of preparing the way for the Eucharistic Lord to visit Our Lady’s university.
Visiting Associate Professor in the McGrath Institute for Church Life, Dr. Michael Baxter, hosted a six-part lecture series from January to April titled “The Only Solution Is Love: The Eucharist and Catholic Social Teaching.” The inspiration for the series came from the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s teaching that “the Eucharist commits us to the poor” (no. 1397). From various angles, the lecturers showed how the pursuit of justice is the fruit of Eucharistic action in overcoming indifference to and alleviating the suffering of the poor and marginalized. Even the lecture titles alone incline us to consider the power and responsibility afforded us in the Sacrament of the Eucharist:
- “The Eucharist and Human Dignity” by Clemens Sedmak, Ph.D.
- “Eucharistic Abundance and Social Regeneration” by Margaret Pfeil, Ph.D.
- “The Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Mission to the Poor” by Bishop Daniel E. Flores
- “A Theology of Migration: The Bodies of Refugees and the Body of Christ” by Daniel G. Groody, CSC
- “Fruit of the Earth and Work of Human Hands: Eucharist as Integral Ecology” by Emmanuel Katongele, Ph.D.
- “God in Things and People: Commodity Fetishism and the Eucharist” by William T. Cavanaugh, Ph.D.
Virtual Conference
As part of a special commitment to serving Catholic education, the McGrath Institute also marked the Eucharist Revival by offering a summer-long virtual conference on the “Eucharist and Catholic Schools” primarily for Catholic educators across the country and world. Hosted by Dr. Clare Kilbane and Dr. Tim O’Malley, the six-week conference of recorded interviews, live seminars, and curated readings brought together scholars of education, catechesis, and theology, with leaders from parochial schools, Catholic secondary schools, campus ministries, and diocesan offices. The topics addressed included all of the following:
• The Eucharistic Identity of the Catholic School
• Teaching the Eucharistic Mystery
• The Eucharistic Mystery and the Curriculum of the School
• The Catholic School and the Vocation to Solidarity and Communion
• The Catholic School, Ecology, and the Eucharist
• Forming for Full, Conscious, Active Participation at School Masses
Eucharistic musical
In what was perhaps the most distinctive contribution the university made to the Eucharistic Revival this summer, the world-premiere of an original, three-part Eucharistic musical was offered to pilgrims and community members alike. With matinee and evening performances on July 6, more than 1,800 people took in “Behold God’s Love: A Eucharistic Musical,” written and composed by Carolyn Pirtle, program director for the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy in the McGrath Institute for Church Life.
The structure of the musical follows from Christ’s words to his disciples, that “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit” (Jn 15:5). The first of the three acts in the musical is “Root”, which draws us into the Book of Exodus, where we encounter the Passover and the Manna in the Desert. The second act is “Vine”, which focuses on the Last Supper and Jesus’ meal ministry. And the third act is “Branches”, where we join the early community at Corinth to receive the Eucharistic teaching and gift. Seen as a whole, the three parts of the musical lead us to grow in appreciation for how the Lord prepares his gift of love for us, makes of himself this very gift, and nourishes us by this gift day after day in the Eucharist.
In an interview with me for the Church Life Today podcast, Pirtle reflected on how the liturgical act of “anamnesis” is expressed in and through the musical. In the liturgy, we do not simply remember what happened long ago but rather receive in our living memory now–the living memory of the Church–the very mysteries we celebrate. Thus, when the priest says “This is my body” during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, he speaks as Christ to his Church. His body and his blood which Christ gave to his disciples in the Upper Room is the body and blood he gives for us today. We “remember” as we are “re-membered” to him: We are united to him, as one body, in his solemn gift.
In the musical, then, the central act of our salvation — the sacrifice of Christ — is presented in union with the acts of God for Israel that anticipated this complete gift and the offering of this one complete gift for the Christian communities that, in obedience and love, hold to the love of Christ in the faith of the Church. What is presented in three acts is, indeed, God’s work of salvation as one continuous act of love, which is given in full in the Eucharist.
Performed by mostly local actors and musicians, including many current college students and recent alums, “Behold God’s Love” is a work of art arising from the distinctive work of a Catholic university. Profound biblical exegesis and sacramental theology have been channeled into the unique expression of this artistic medium so as to appeal to the youngest children alongside the most esteemed scholars. In a special way, as a work coming from the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, with its decades-long leadership in liturgical scholarship and renewal, the liturgy itself inspired and informed the creation of the musical, both in its composition and its performance. At the same time, though, the musical seeks to prepare us better for our participation in the liturgy. By stimulating our memories, by enlivening our imaginations, and by exploring the one union of Christ and his Church, what is seen and heard from the stage directs us toward the altar to receive with greater reverence and gratitude the same Christ who comes to us, gives himself for us, and commissions us to love another, today.
From the Church, for the Church
As only a two-day stop on only one of the four pilgrimage routes leading to the National Eucharistic Congress, Notre Dame’s role in the National Eucharistic Revival was limited and particular. And yet, considered again, the university’s contribution to this work of evangelization was a specific, robust opportunity for the university to claim afresh its identity and mission as “a living institutional witness to Christ and his message” (Ex Corde Ecclesiae, No. 49). This summer, that witness came through in liturgy, devotion, scholarship, dialogue, instruction and art.
