News Briefs

Hallow app, Detroit Archdiocese partner on I AM HERE campaign focused on the Eucharist

June 18, 2022 Catholic News Agency 0
Archdiocese of Detroit’s I AM HERE website features powerful photo essays of real people’s transformative encounters, prayer resources through Hallow, and inspirational messages urging people to give Jesus’ Real Presence a chance to change their lives. / Courtesy of Archdiocese of Detroit

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 18, 2022 / 05:23 am (CNA).

The transformative power of encountering Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is a phenomenon that is often difficult to fully comprehend. To help those who are searching for Jesus’ presence, the Archdiocese of Detroit and Hallow App are launching the I AM HERE campaign.

The campaign allows parishes as well as individuals to get involved. Through the teachings of the National Eucharistic Revival, a grassroots effort led by the U.S. bishops aiming to inspire and teach about the Eucharist, I AM HERE aims to promote a true devotion to the Real Presence.

The I AM HERE campaign launched on June 14. The campaign includes a website, social media, and testimonies from real individuals whose lives were changed by the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Hallow app is also assisting the organization with a series of free audio prayer meditations to help listeners pray.

“Something that I think is really unique to the way we do evangelization and mission is direct communication in the Archdiocese of Detroit. We’ve always highlighted and seen the power of personal testimony and personal stories.” Emily Mentock, associate director of strategy for the Detroit Archdiocese, told CNA.  

The National Eucharistic Revival and I AM HERE come in response to the small percentage of Catholics who believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. A 2019 Pew Research Center survey found that 69% of Catholics see the bread and wine as symbolic, while only 31% see the bread and wine as the body and blood of Jesus.

Because of this statistic, Mentock told CNA that they want to focus on the 31% who do believe and have them share their stories. She tells all people to, “open your heart and mind to what might be possible.”

“We hope to see our parishes transformed by people growing in love for Jesus Christ and in their zeal to communicate this love with others,” said Edmundo Reyes, director of communications for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

The Hallow app and the Archdiocese of Detroit are partnering on a eucharistic campaign called I AM HERE. Courtesy of Archdiocese of Detroit
The Hallow app and the Archdiocese of Detroit are partnering on a eucharistic campaign called I AM HERE. Courtesy of Archdiocese of Detroit

The I AM HERE website features powerful photo essays of real people’s transformative encounters, resources for intentional prayer through Hallow, and inspirational messages urging their audience to give Jesus’ Presence a chance.

“You are never alone. In your brokenness, sorrows and frustrations, Jesus wants to say to you, ‘I am here,’” says the main message on the I AM HERE page.

Through a budding social media presence on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, the campaign will feature personal testimonies of eucharistic encounters. The campaign’s press release also states that campaign organizers, partnered with parishes, will gather stories of parishioners to help encourage others to find Jesus in the Eucharist themselves. Parishes wishing to get involved can contact iamhere@aod.org.

The stories on the I AM HERE website feature individuals from all different walks of life. From teenagers to the elderly, each person has a unique experience to share. The variety of testimonies is meant to show the audience that there is no requirement to find Jesus’ Real Presence, only that you “sit in his presence and open yourself up to his voice.”

“Mass is an obligation, you know, whether you believe in the real presence or not. But adoration only makes sense, really, when you’re going to go and look at and put yourself in front of this host if you think that Jesus is present there: body, blood, soul, and divinity,” Mentock told CNA.

“So we really want people to see the I AM HERE message. What’s sort of underlying it all is that it’s not just a devotion. It really is Jesus being here with us and breaking through the brokenness of our world to meet us and transform us in the gift that is the Eucharist.”

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Pope Francis: Candidates for the priesthood must be well scrutinized

June 17, 2022 Catholic News Agency 4
Pope Francis meets with members of the editorship of the theological magazine La Scuola Cattolica at the Vatican’s Consistory Hall, June 17, 2022. / Vatican Media.

Vatican City, Jun 17, 2022 / 09:10 am (CNA).

Pope Francis spoke on Friday about the importance of scrutinizing candidates for the priesthood to ensure that the men who reach ordination are well-formed and mature.

In a meeting with seminary formators from the Milan archdiocese on June 17, the pope said that the process of accompanying those discerning vocations to the priesthood requires sensitivity and expert skill.

“When discerning whether or not a person can embark on a vocational journey, it is necessary to scrutinize and evaluate him in an integral way: to consider his way of experiencing affections, relationships, spaces, roles, responsibilities, as well as his frailties, fears, and imbalances,” Pope Francis said.

“The whole journey must initiate processes aimed at forming mature priests and consecrated persons, who are ‘experts in humanity and closeness’ and not ‘officials of the sacred.’”

Pope Francis underlined that each man brings with him a unique family, personal, and spiritual history to the seminary.

“Sexuality, affectivity, and relationships are dimensions of the person to be considered and understood, by both the Church and science, also in relation to socio-cultural challenges and changes,” he said.

“An open attitude and good witness allow the educator to ‘encounter’ the whole personality of the ‘called one,’ engaging his intelligence, emotions, heart, dreams, and aspirations.”

To achieve this outcome, seminary formators themselves must be growing daily “toward the fullness of Christ,” the pope said, so that the charity of Christ may be more clearly manifested in them.

“Seminarians and young people in formation should be able to learn more from your life than from your words; to be able to learn docility from your obedience, industriousness from your dedication, generosity with the poor from your sobriety and availability, fatherhood from your chaste and non-possessive affections. We are consecrated to serve the People of God, to take care of all, starting with the poorest,” Pope Francis told the priests.

“Suitability for ministry is tied to availability, joy, and generosity toward others. The world needs priests who are able to communicate the goodness of the Lord to those who have experienced sin and failure, priests who are experts in humanity … men who know how to listen to the cry of those who suffer.”

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