Sacramental Revival

On Al Kresta’s show, I heard him interview Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens, the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis. The topic was the three-year strategic plan for “Eucharistic Revival.”

Al asked him about the role of the Sacrament of Confession in the plan. The Bishop thought it was integral.

It is integral because the sacraments can not be siloed off from each other.

The background story I heard from the seminarian last night involved the availability of Eucharistic Adoration. This is a common thread for vocations to the priesthood. As Catholics, we are dependent on priests for the Eucharist, and priestly vocations are fed on the Eucharist and by Eucharistic Adoration.

More broadly, we need a “Sacramental Revival” since fewer Catholics are getting married, having their children baptized, and of course, going to confession — or even to Mass.

The decline in all the sacraments has a common thread. There are individual factors regarding the drop of each of them.

So I like what the Bishop was saying, even if I don’t give much credence to strategic plans. The reality is that in season and out of season, the Church needs to be constantly promoting her teachings, especially “the source and summit of the Christian life.” We all need constant conversion, along with going deeper into learning and living our faith.

What this plan will do at least is put this on the agenda at the parish level where fruit can be born.

At my level, this is something I can concentrate on during Adoration. Unfortunately, the availability of Eucharistic Adoration has been curtailed since the COVID-19 outbreak. Two parishes that had Perpetual Adoration now have much shorter hours. My parish also has more limited availability. I hope to see us transitioning back and then increasing availability.