Pre-Summit Activities

Location: Sancta Maria Hall

The U.S. bishops’ three-year National Eucharistic Revival (June 2022 – June 2025) responded to a Pew Research poll finding widespread disbelief in the Real Presence of Christ. While it focused on many things, it did not, however, place emphasis on Catholic education, the Church’s most effective means of evangelization. The crisis of disbelief in the Real Presence is a crisis of Catholic education, especially among young people. Pew found that only 26 percent of Catholics age 18-40, most of them formed in public schools, believed in the Real Presence—yet 64 percent of the unbelievers were “unsure” or “unaware” of the Church’s teaching on the Real Presence. This does not indicate their rejection of Catholic teaching. Instead, it reveals a lack of awareness and understanding among two generations of poorly catechized Catholics.
The Cardinal Newman Society responded by collaborating with Catholic leaders and educators on a three-year Eucharistic education project advancing the following objectives:

• a revival of Eucharistic literacy, by teaching students the truth of the Real Presence in the Eucharist;
• a revival of Eucharistic liturgy, by improving liturgical music, prayer, and reverence in Catholic school and college liturgies;
• a revival of Eucharistic devotion, by increasing students’ devotion to the Eucharist through prayer and adoration; and
• a revival of Eucharistic living, by forming students in lifestyles that conform to the reality of Christ within them. 

Now, after three years, and feedback from multiple sources, we have lessons learned for educators focusing on the source and summit of Catholic education being the Eucharist.

Location: Library

Join Dr. Anthony Lilles and the Avila Institute for a series of guided reflections.  

A spiritual revolution is unfolding even as there is a growing fascination with Catholic spirituality. In the face of the tyranny of technocracy and dehumanizing ideologies, there is a growing hunger for the spiritual wisdom of the saints that lives in the sacred liturgy.

Schedule for the session

• 45-minute presentation – “Cultural and Social Challenges to Liturgical Contemplation Today”
• 15-minute Q&A
• 15-minute break
• 45-minute presentation – “Introduction to Contemplative Prayer and Its Relationship to the Sacred Liturgy”
• 15-minute Q&A
• Closing prayer