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ACUSHNET — A little church in a small town, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church was facing tough times. The congregation was dwindling, and Mass attendance was at an all-time low. The empty confessional was collecting dust, and donations were dismal. But then the unthinkable happened. Today, St. Francis Xavier is one of the most vibrant parishes in the diocese with standing-room only Masses, confessional lines, a busload of parishioners participating in the March for Life, and an abundance of freewill donations that will make them debt-free by April. "Jesus is on the property," said Mary Cardoza, the spark that inflamed...

The History of Eucharistic Adoration Development of Doctrine in the Catholic Church INTRODUCTION The phenomenal growth of devotion to the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist has puzzled not a few sincere people. Nocturnal Adoration societies, Perpetual Adoration groups, national associations of the faithful promoting organized visits to the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Hours before the tabernacle, monthly, weekly and even daily exposition of the Eucharist in churches and chapels, in one country after another, have become commonplace. What to make of all of this? Is this another form of pious eccentricity, or is it founded on authentic Catholic...

St. Francis and the Eucharist Gordon Plumb, Tertiary from the Lincoln Area examines the centrality of the Eucharist for us. The Eucharist At the end of his life Francis dictated a document that has remained a primary expression of his Gospel vision. He says in what has become known as The Testament: …the Lord gave me, and gives me still, such faith in priests who live according to the rite of the holy Roman Church because of their orders that, were they to persecute me, I would still want to have recourse to them…..And I act in this way because,...

June 20, 2008 A Shepherd Speaks His Excellency, Bishop Edward J. Slattery of the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma speaks to his people of Divine Intimacy, the holiness of the clergy, Eucharistic adoration, the maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his plans for a Cenacle of Eucharistic Adoration for priests. Emphases in boldface are my own. The full article can be found in the June 8, 2008 edition of Eastern Oklahoma Catholic.Assessments aren’t auditsAs a living organism, the Diocese must be assessed not at the level of measurable material things, but at the level of spiritual health, that is, the...

I’ve written before how my fraying life snapped back into focus during a chance encounter with Eucharistic Adoration. I’d been driving down a street with the windows open and heard the noontime bells ring as I passed a church. Obeying an impulse – ahem – I decided to stop in and maybe light a candle.When I entered the church I saw the altar, alive with candles, and the gleaming monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. “Oh, they do Adoration here,” I thought, with something like joy bubbling up inside me. I fell to my knees before the Presence and simply,...

Interview With a Monsignor in Sicily ROME, NOV. 15, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The archpriest of one of the best-preserved historical centers of Sicily thinks that "the first thing that any parish should engage in is perpetual Eucharistic Adoration." Monsignor Michele Placido Giordano, archpriest of Mistretta, has always promoted this type of prayer. In fact, the Church of the Most Holy Savior, in Mistretta, is one of only a handful of churches in Italy that has perpetual Eucharistic adoration. On Nov. 9, Benedict XVI urged a rediscovery of this practice, when he met with participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical...

Kampala, Uganda, Jun 4, 2009 / 01:06 am (CNA).- Eucharistic Adoration in Uganda is attracting more lay people to prayer and encouraging vocations, an international Catholic charity reports. Sister Consolate Shirima of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, based at Holy Trinity Monastery in Arua, on the northwest border of the country, discussed the phenomenon with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). She said that over the past five years, increasing numbers of lay people have joined the sisters for adoration. An estimated three or four hundred faithful join the monastery for prayer on Sundays, while daily visitors to the...

“We do,” said John. “Your Church teaches that he is really present there, yes? That what's there is the man who was God?” “Yes. The formula is 'Body and blood, soul and divinity.'” “And you believe that?” “Yes.” Isa made as if to say something, but stifled it. John assured him he would not be offended. Finally, reluctantly, Isa said, “I don't understand.” "I understand how you feel. It sounds very shocking.” “No, you don't understand. That's not what I mean. You will take it as an insult, but I don't mean it to be.” “I promise I won't...

In the True Presence of Christ, I fall to my knees. I am humbled to be so near Him in the form of the Eucharist.A feeling of peace and joy comes over me.I start to pray in earnest because our Lord hears our prayers.I offer Him my sincerest gratitude for the many blessings in my life.I ask His forgiveness for the sins I have committed.I promise our Lord that I will go to Reconciliation soon.I unburden myself to Him and share all of my stress and anxiety as He asked us to in the Gospel.I pray for others-family, friends,...

The Monks of Adoration Contemplative Catholic monastic life dedicated to  Eucharistic Adoration, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Rule: Saint Augustine Prayer: Full Liturgy of the Hours, Rosary, Individual Holy Hours Work: Writing, gardening, Internet, quarterly publication, bookshop, clock making.monkadorer@catholic.org   Vocational Information We wish you all a grace filled Easter Season!!!HEISRISEN!!!

I read something on a Catholic message board the other that chilled my blood. The mother of one of a cognitively challenged brother in Christ had posted my piece "Special Love for Special Children" to the board, letting others know about the work of the Order of Alhambra does among God's special children. Nothing unusual about that. Nevertheless, one of the homosexual activists (at least it appears that way) on the list replied: "If I had Down's Syndrome, I would hope that my parents would have the good sense to abort me because I could not lead a productive life."...

Adoration with no end 24-hour Eucharistic ritual returns to Boston By Michael Paulson The adorers sit in silence before the wafer. Hour after hour, day after day, they take part in an unusual Catholic ritual that appears to be making a modest comeback - a quest for silence in a noisy life, a desire to be part of a team, a hunger to feel closer to God. The ritual, called perpetual adoration, is, at one level, strikingly simple: around-the-clock, people take turns sitting in a chapel in the presence of a consecrated wafer. But at another level, the ritual...

As part of a broad initiative to promote Eucharistic adoration, the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy is proposing that religious women “spiritually adopt priests” through prayer before the Eucharist, and, more generally, that Catholics from every corner of the world spend time before the Eucharist to pray for vocations to the priesthood in an era of priest shortages. Concretely, the Congregation for Clergy is proposing that each diocese appoint a priest whose full-time job would be to promote Eucharistic adoration, and that special “Eucharistic shrines” be created that would resemble the well-known Marian shrines that dot the Catholic world. The congregation...

by Pat Gohn Other Articles by Pat Gohn The Gaze 07/13/05 I do a weekly adoration hour. If you are familiar with the devotion of Eucharistic Adoration, skip the next paragraph. If not, allow me to explain. In formal settings, when a Catholic church sets up a weekly or daily schedule of Adoration or “Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament,” volunteers (like me) sign up to pray during a designated hour. The Blessed Sacrament, meaning the large consecrated Host that a priest elevates during Mass, is “exposed” or “revealed” in a monstrance — usually an ornate vessel that displays the Host on...

The present title of our meditation can be shortened and simplified. It should read, "Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and the Catholic Prolife Movement." We have already spoken at length and in detail about the Holy Eucharist. Our focus has been to bring out the role of the Holy Eucharist in obtaining the graces we need to stem the tide of infant homicide and restore moral sanity in the modern world. As we reflected on the power of the Eucharist to achieve miracles, we kept insisting that these miracles will be performed by Our Lord only if we believe. Christ...

AT CHRISM MASS on Holy Thursday, Bishop Daily greeted priests outside St. James Cathedral. He is shown with Father Bryan Patterson of St. Athanasius parish, Bensonhurst. At right, priests of the diocese assist in the blessing of oils. On the day that Pope John Paul II issued his new encyclical on the Eucharist, Bishop Thomas V. Daily called for perpetual adoration of the Eucharist in the Diocese of Brooklyn. The 75-year-old bishop made the request at the celebration of the Chrism Mass at St. James Cathedral-Basilica in Downtown Brooklyn on Holy Thursday. Four other bishops and 300 priests concelebrated while...

Our conference this evening is on the Real Presence and perpetual adoration. Although I have said this before, I wish to emphasize that what I have been doing in these teleconferences, and surely in today's, is carrying out an explicit order of Pope John Paul II. The order is to do everything in my power to restore faith in the Real Presence where it has been lost. Strengthen that faith where it is weak. In the plainest language, Pope John Paul II declares, I repeat, unless faith in the Real Presence is strong, stronger than it is now, I fear...

Code: ZE06030906Date: 2006-03-09Pope Backs Perpetual Eucharistic AdorationParticularly in Rome DioceseVATICAN CITY, MARCH 9, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI has supported an initiative to offer the possibility of perpetual Eucharistic adoration in churches of the Rome Diocese. The Pope expressed his enthusiasm for this initiative during his meeting March 2 with Roman parish priests, as reflected in his conversation with them. A text of the conversation was subsequently published in Italian by the Vatican. Father Alberto Pacini, rector of the Church of St. Anastasia on the Pallatine Hill -- which has had perpetual Eucharistic adoration for the past five years -- made...

Eucharistic adoration: Intimacy with Christ By Roxanne King In calling for the Year of the Eucharist, one of Pope John Paul II’s goals was to help Catholics deepen their understanding and awareness of Christ’s “real presence” in the Blessed Sacrament. Proponents of eucharistic adoration, the practice of praying before the Eucharist, say the devotion does just that. “In the Year of the Eucharist, the Holy Father invited the faithful ‘to start afresh from Christ’ by the faithful contemplating with greater perseverance the face of the Word made flesh, truly present in the eucharistic sacrament,” said Deacon Chuck Parker, director of...

Dear Friend in Christ, In 2011, what if Catholic college students nationwide resolved to spend time in Eucharistic Adoration? With your prayers and support, The Cardinal Newman Society is prepared to launch our fourth year of leading Catholic college students to Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. The Cardinal Newman Society is nearing completion of a powerful new video to lead young people to Eucharistic Adoration . . . and we continue to sponsor the Vatican’s Eucharistic Miracles of the World exhibit on college campuses. This work is essential to our mission of renewing authentic Catholic education.  The Eucharist must be...