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1: Beginnings - with Fr. Greg Bahl
6 Plays1 year ago
In this first episode, our maiden voyage into podcasting, Fr. Kevin Earleywine and Fr. Jacob Rouse discuss the Eucharistic Revival with Fr. Greg Bahl, the Director of Worship for the Archdiocese of Dubuque.
The websites and resources referenced can be found here:
https://dbqarch.org/archdiocesan-eucharistic-revival
https://www.eucharisticrevival.org/
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Transcript
Introductions and Podcast Purpose
00:00:15
Speaker
Hello, everyone. My name is Father Jacob Rouse, and I'm the pastor of Notre Dame Parish in Cresco, Iowa. And I am here with my co-hosts, Father Kevin Earlywine and Father Greg Ball. And Kevin, would you like to introduce yourself? Yes, hello. I'm Father Kevin Earlywine. I'm a pastor of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Hampton and St. Mary's in Ackley.
00:00:41
Speaker
Yeah, Father Greg Ball, I serve as the part-time halftime chaplain at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. And my other half a hat is working for the bishop's office as the director of the office of worship and liturgy for the Archdiocese of Dubuque.
00:01:00
Speaker
So, if it's not obvious already, we are on a podcast right now. Funny thing, as I was typing in the episode title, we had talked about Dubuque, Eucharistic Revival, and someone in our group suggested Dubuque-aristic, and every single person I posed that to said we should go with it.
00:01:25
Speaker
That's what we're doing. It's an absolutely horrible idea and I was against it even though it was my idea.
00:01:33
Speaker
And here we are.
Understanding the Eucharistic Revival
00:01:35
Speaker
So this podcast is our local effort intended to kind of rally our local ministries, experts, different activities going on in our archdiocese of Dubuque and to partner with the national and worldwide movement that is called the Eucharistic Revival. So Father Greg, can you give us a little,
00:02:01
Speaker
A little background on what is exactly the Eucharistic revival. Sure. So this is an American, the United States Council of Catholic Bishops, the bishops of the U.S.
00:02:18
Speaker
wanted to respond to this sense that Catholics particularly are kind of getting away from their appreciation or the understanding or just this acknowledgement of how truly just grand that great gift of the Eucharist is for us. I know that there's this survey that goes out, I wanna say every 10 years.
00:02:42
Speaker
And it surveys religion and politics or I think mostly religion and questions around these things. And every year and increasingly so, there's this like,
00:02:57
Speaker
a demonstrative sense of a lack of understanding of what the Eucharist is, even among Catholics. And so in response to that, our bishops have called on the diocese just to make some efforts to have this Eucharistic revival. And so there's all sorts of resources that are being made available. There's a three-year plan.
00:03:21
Speaker
So last year there was like this idea of like a year of diocesan revival. So at the level of the clergy and the level of the bishop's offices and kind of the administrative and institutional level of the church, there was a lot of exploration catechesis around the Eucharist. I know in our own diocese we had a
00:03:40
Speaker
a priest study day around the liturgy. We've offered like Eucharistic themes and some emphases in men's conferences and women's conferences and kind of a bigger, bigger, broader picture.
00:03:58
Speaker
There's a three year process
Encouraging Parish Revival through Example
00:04:00
Speaker
of it. Now we've entered into what we want to call a year of parish revival. And that's one of the things that this podcast is looking to kind of encourage. Show some examples or talk about some local examples of parish revival or Eucharistic activities that are happening. But this year is the year of parish revival. And following on that is one of the most important things as disciples of Christ nourished by the Eucharist.
00:04:26
Speaker
is the year of mission and so in June 2024 to June 2025 you know after spending a couple years ruminating on these things kind of steeping ourselves and in Eucharistic theology to recognize that we are nourished to to go out into the world as Catholics to go and propel our communities into this new chapter of faith and mission this a real sense of this recognition of
00:04:54
Speaker
that the Eucharist is not just a me and Jesus relationship or even a Jesus nourishing us both physically and spiritually to enter into the world, but also we are called to respond to these things.
00:05:10
Speaker
And so there's pillars of personal encounter, reinvigorating devotion, a deeper formation, which is more than just catechesis, it's more than just teaching. Formation is how can we be better disciples? And then a missionary sending forth into
The Significance of the Eucharist
00:05:28
Speaker
the world. And so these are kind of the goals that the country has as a Catholic church.
00:05:37
Speaker
For us and there's all sorts of wonderful resources that are being made available and and hopefully this podcast can can kind of point us to some kind of the greater resources. But also the kind of local efforts as well as kind of.
00:05:55
Speaker
And if, I don't know, if there's, do you have any questions, thoughts? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is, I think some of our listeners will know the term source and summit. The Eucharist is defined by the catechism as the source and summit of our faith. So if it's something that is so high up there on importance, and if it's something we do every single week or every single day for daily mass, why does there need to be a three-year hierarchy engaging
00:06:24
Speaker
big project. I mean it's something that's always there for us. Why do we need to have all this stuff about it?
00:06:30
Speaker
But it's a, well, that's the thing is a beauty of journey and the whole thing. I love that source and summit imagery, right? Cause that's mountain imagery. You know, you think summit, you think the peak, the pinnacle with the Eucharist being the presence of Jesus Christ is the pinnacle. That's everything we strive for. And yet at the same time, it's the source. It's the root of the mountain and that runs deep. It's the foundation, which everything is all built up. Well, between that source and summit, there's this entire beautiful journey that we're called to.
00:07:00
Speaker
so many of the things of our faith are eternal realities and the things outside of time and In a very real way. There's a journey aspect to this. There's a it's a climbing of the mountain There's a playing on the mountain I think and in doing so It's inviting other people to know just that kind of greatness the greatness of what it is I think I'm yeah, I love that and that phrase source and some has always spoken to me for there for that reason because it's just so
00:07:30
Speaker
Yeah, Jacob. Excellent. So we're, we're not just looking at the top, we are climbing, playing and adventuring up a mountain together. I like that. So that brings us to the local level of Father Kevin, can you share a little bit about how this idea came into your brain, either through a dream or spirit or what it was? Yeah. How are we here?
00:07:52
Speaker
Yeah, thank you. Good question. Yeah, so kind of building off of what Father Greg said. So there's been this national movement of Eucharistic revival. So trying to re-engage people in the pews about the profundity, the beauty, the many facets and aspects of the mystery of the Eucharist, right? That it's not just a little wafer and wine, you know, because sometimes it can be easy to think, well, this little wafer and this little nibble on a wafer and a little sip of wine, how can that be the source and summit?
00:08:19
Speaker
Excuse me, of my entire Christian life, right? How can this be the totality? And of course, it's because we believe Jesus is really, truly present in that, not just in a symbolic way, though there are symbolic dimensions, but in a real presence way, right? His flesh and blood, the living God coming into us. And then there's many facets of that reality of how that then is to play out in our life. You know, it's not just to be siloed on Sunday, but on the rest of our life.
00:08:46
Speaker
And I personally have had kind of some beautiful experiences with Eucharist, which I may be sharing in a bit more about. But with that, it's...
00:08:54
Speaker
So just as kind of trying to think of ideas, well, how are we to engage this Eucharistic revival on a local level and kind of in sparking conversations with many people, realizing that there are a lot of both inspiring people who have beautiful stories connected to the Eucharist and as well as just like many different things going on at various parishes.
00:09:17
Speaker
whether events, whether just efforts of the parish and things like that. And so while there's a lot of, I'm sure, probably many great podcasts out there about our Catholic faith of the Eucharist, the goal of this is to kind of highlight, as was said, a more local level.
00:09:34
Speaker
Kind of just like highlighting different people and of what they're doing perishes So so the idea of this podcast is to kind of highlight the many facets of the beautiful Eucharistic mystery by sharing You know some episodes will be a little more people sharing their conversion stories Of which the Eucharist has been a part of it some of it will be people sharing about kind of a little more teaching a little more catechetical
00:09:59
Speaker
about the Eucharistic mystery, kind of what is the Eucharist, how do we understand this kind of teaching aspect. And then some will be kind of highlighting just what are some cool events, movements, things that people are doing connected Eucharistic revival around the diocese. So trying to highlight that on a local level that as part of that. So
00:10:21
Speaker
That's excellent. So we all have access to Father Mike Schmitz and Matt Fred, I guess, but. Bishop Barry.
00:10:30
Speaker
Bishop Bob Barron, but they don't, those big names don't have access to what's going on in Rhinebeck or Waterloo. So I think that's good, that summarizes the goal of what we're about here. So we've talked about the national level, now the diocesan level, the parish level. Now let's get down to the personal level. Father Greg, can you share just a little bit about what the Eucharist, or the true presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist has either meant for you in your life or your priesthood?
00:11:01
Speaker
So I'm in the office of worship and liturgy and this idea of this outward expression. They talk about this visible expression of invisible realities in the sacraments. And this idea that all the sacraments do what they symbolize. My sense of the Eucharist is
00:11:22
Speaker
Well, let me come at it this way. Sometimes people come to me confession. I don't know if you guys have this experience, I'm sure you do, where people will come to confession and it'll say something along the lines of like, I'm struggling with the same sin over and over again, or I just, I don't know if I have it within me to be holy. And sometimes I outright say it. If I'm cheeky enough, I'll say it to myself about like,
00:11:42
Speaker
You know what, you're right, you don't. And then they're like, wow, that's not what I expect to hear because they want to be encouraged or whatever. That we are not alone in our striving to be holy. And my Eucharistic devotion particularly, and at the Mass, is no like,
00:12:01
Speaker
Jesus is so present in his word proclaimed and his sacrament celebrated and the people gathered in this church is proclaiming your truths that we can manifest and experience these visible expressions of Jesus truly present. And when we take in the Eucharist, there's this experience of the just the fullness of who Jesus is. And it's just
00:12:24
Speaker
That to me was what moves me the most. It's like this expression and this reception to know that we are physically nourished. I don't know how many calories are in a host. The visible versus the invisible. The invisible grace is infinite, that we're tapping in. We have everything we need to be perfect. To be holy, to be saints, because Christ himself, body blood, soul, divinity, as you guys know,
00:12:53
Speaker
fully alive fully present comes to us and nourishes us and so like sacraments do what they symbolize and so as we
00:13:03
Speaker
There's this great symbol of nourishment. There's a spiritual nourishment that I know that I empowered to be holy if I just don't let myself get in the way that I have within me only because of God's good grace and His love and His Spirit to face whatever challenge is thrown down. And so, yeah, I guess that's the heart of my Eucharistic devotion right there.
00:13:28
Speaker
That's beautiful. Thank you, Father Greg. So it's once again, not only the highest of the high, the top of the mountain, but it's also the daily slog of getting up that mountain. So, Father Kevin, what experiences or what does the Eucharist mean to you? I guess that's a big question as a priest and as a human. But yeah, can you share a little bit about that?
00:13:51
Speaker
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I got a bit of a story of my own journey, which also maybe plays into why I wanted to start this to this podcast. So for me, I was born and raised Catholic, like, probably a lot of people listening to this, though, perhaps we have some converts or some non Catholics listening to this, too. But growing up, I didn't I remember when I was young,
00:14:14
Speaker
When I was in middle school, I remember one of my older brothers telling me, Kevin, did you know that we as Catholics, we believe that when the priest prays at mass that the bread and wine really becomes the body and blood of Jesus Christ? Like actually, not just symbolically. And I remember the first thing I thought when I heard that was, that's the most absurd thing I've ever heard, right? Because the priest prays and it still looks like a little wafer bread and a little bit of wine. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, acts like a duck, quacks like a duck, must be a duck, right?
00:14:43
Speaker
If it walks like talks like bread and wine, must be bread and wine. But then I went to college, I went to a little place called Loras College, a Catholic college in Dubuque, where I had a lot of really faithful Catholic friends who really challenged me on that notion. And that maybe there really is this idea of the real presence of Christ in Eucharist, that it's not just a symbol. And so I really had to wrestle with that and
00:15:09
Speaker
I have a lot longer story of kind of journeying through and wrestling with that reality. But another one I'll add is I also began reading about, in college, being passionate about social issues in the world. I began reading the words of this woman you may have heard of named Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Because here's this shining example of holiness in our modern world.
00:15:31
Speaker
This woman who just gave her life to pour support to me, it's like, here's a woman who's tuned into the presence of God. But the more I read of her works, I began to realize she really believes in this real presence of Jesus thing. Like she talks about the Eucharist events as if that's really Jesus Christ, her Lord, right? And it would spend hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. And so I'm like, well, she really believes Jesus is there. There must be something to this.
00:15:55
Speaker
So I just like really wrestled and struggle with that. But eventually coming to realize if this is really what we say it is, you know, if this Eucharist is really truly
00:16:07
Speaker
the living God, Jesus Christ, present to me, and this is the church that I can get it in, well, then there's no other church I want to be in. There's no other church I can be in because I, especially as a young college student, I was thinking I need that divine flesh and my sinful flesh. College students are very aware of some of the temptations of the flesh.
00:16:29
Speaker
And so just like receiving that, and then I'm like, if this is really what we say it is, then this is the most profound, intimate encounter with the living God that it can have on this earth, you know? And also how we talk about the Source and Summit, the idea of love being a part of it. Love God with all your harmony and soul and strength, and love your neighbors yourself, connecting the body of Christ.
00:16:52
Speaker
That's excellent, Father Kevin. So it sounds like, too, I mean, you're on the journey. I know you play a new journey and you adventure up that mountain. But also, it connects us transcendentally and spiritually and sacramentally to the highest of the high. But then also, like the crossbeam, it spreads us out to our neighbor as well. So we've got the connection to above and then we've got connection to left and right, too.
Eucharist: Empowerment and Nourishment
00:17:18
Speaker
So not only is the Eucharist a
00:17:21
Speaker
a big deal, but it's also a devotion, but then it also spurs us onto charity for our neighbor. That's excellent. For me, I'm glad you used the word absurd because it really is an absurd proposition. I mean,
00:17:38
Speaker
Jesus himself in John 6 when he says, you must eat in my flesh and drink my blood. Then he doubles down and uses the Greek equivalent of gnaw. And he doesn't apologize for what he says and he comes back even harder to say, this is what I'm going to do. This is what's gonna fulfill everything I came to do. And then too, I find myself when I'm saying mass,
00:18:09
Speaker
I truly believe I'm communing with Jesus Christ, our Lord, but then at the same time, when I say, behold the Lamb of God, sometimes I think, okay, did I really give my whole life for this piece of bread? And I mean, sometimes the, it's not really, I don't know if it's doubt or not, but it's really just, okay, is this really what we're doing here? Yeah, it is, I'm gonna keep trusting you, Lord, because this is the only way I see forward, so.
00:18:38
Speaker
Yeah, the highs and the lows are contained in the mass and in the Eucharist. Father Greg. Yeah, I just wanted to mention that just the invitation to holiness that that is, when we lift up that behold, and it is this invitation to faith that just ever deepens.
00:18:58
Speaker
The other thing that I think about when Father Earlywine, Father Kevin was talking, we didn't talk about before this podcast, how we're going to call each other. Most of my brochures call me Father Kevin, but Father Earlywine sounds very official. It's very Reverend Father to you, but. Yeah, I'm not a very Reverend. I'm just kidding.
00:19:23
Speaker
Coming back to like all the resources that we have. There's this on the national level as you mentioned this Eucharisticrevival.org is a website that the bishops are kind of maintaining.
00:19:39
Speaker
And it's got so many fantastic resources and all these kind of things on it. And what made me think of EucharisticRevival.org was when Father Kevin was mentioning Mother Teresa, Saint Mother Teresa.
00:19:56
Speaker
Because there's always great, great saints that are outlined, Eucharistic saints that are outlined throughout the year are going to be highlighted. And I just wanted to do a little preview of the fact that one of our own local artists is the one that provides the woodcut art for all of them, the
00:20:19
Speaker
the saints that are being promoted as Eucharistic saints in this Eucharistic revival. And so I encourage you to check out the eucharisticrevival.org. And even though this podcast wants to look local, I encourage you to do that for the sake of the fact that we're gonna be talking later about the local piece of it.
00:20:43
Speaker
Father Kevin, would you like to add something? Yes. Then that local artist you mentioned, our plan is, my plan is to have him on a future episode to talk about, he'll mention his art, but also talk about music too as he works in literature. I don't know if we should mention his name yet or just surprise him when he comes out. Let's keep it a secret. A secret is a secret. For people to come back and find out in future episodes. It's a tease here.
00:21:09
Speaker
Oh, I just want to add one more thing to it just about I just want to add to about like, you know, of course, I mentioned the Eucharist is like, really that that coming to believe in the real presence changed the course of my life quite literally, which is why I'm very passionate about doing a podcast about Eucharistic revival, because like, because also like, you know, we're in the midst of
00:21:30
Speaker
You know, a time in the world when people recognize different scandals in the church and, and things like that.
Resources and Future Plans
00:21:35
Speaker
But for me, it's like, despite all of those things, it's not about, um, you know, I didn't, it's, that's not the thing that keeps me in is, is good and holy priests or bishops or whatever. So that's unholy ones don't drive me away because.
00:21:48
Speaker
At the end of the day, even if there's bad sinners in this place, at the end of the day, if this is really Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, to me, that's the anchor of everything. That's what keeps me in. That's what keeps me going. That's what brings me back. In the ups and downs and the mundane and the mystical and beautiful and all of that. So just as a word of encouragement too.
00:22:14
Speaker
Jesus. So I hope that this episode is exactly what we intended to do, which is kind of a teaser just to introduce the idea of it and say that we're going to have a, we have a plan too, by the way. It's not just this random idea we had on a Wednesday or whatever today is. We've got a plan, we've got speakers lined up, we've got different people to interview from all different aspects of ministry and
00:22:43
Speaker
Yeah, I'm really excited for it. So the next episode, I'll have my notes more in front of me, but I'm sure I'll be able to put something in the description in the show notes, too. And I'm glad Father Greg mentioned the website, that will be kind of the dashboard, if you will, for all the activities locally and nationally as well. So
00:23:05
Speaker
Do you want me to just name a couple of things coming up, Eucharistic Events? Yeah, I want you to write in front of me. So yeah, so just as we said, we have our own local Archdiocese, Eucharistic Revival, dbqarch.org slash Archdiocese and Eucharistic Revival that lists various Eucharistic Revival events coming up. And I think also we'll have our podcasts on there as well as other podcast catching platforms, hopefully.
00:23:27
Speaker
But some events coming up, there's a couple things in Cedar Rapids. There will be a Eucharistic Miracles display for a bit for the next week or so yet at St. Joseph Parish in Marion. Then also Anthony Digman, speaker in our diocese, will be going to Elizabeth Ann Seton in Hiawatha on October 22nd and 23rd in the evenings to give a talk on Eucharistic, on the Eucharist and Eucharistic Revival. So you can visit their website for that, Elizabeth Ann Seton.
00:23:58
Speaker
And then there'll be some different Eucharistic Adoration Praise and Worship Nights happening at St. Patrick's Parish in Cedar Rapids. So I know all of those are kind of in the Cedar Rapids area, but those are some things approximately that are coming up. So be looking out for those, as well as we'll be letting you know about other things coming up. But in the meantime, visit our Dubuque Archdiocesan website on Eucharistic Revival to find out more. Thank you very much, gentlemen. This was a pleasure.
00:24:26
Speaker
And to all our listeners, thanks for tuning in. It'll be a lot more exciting and a lot better. So tune in again. Come back. Come back, please. We'll be more interesting people. We'll see you next time and we'll see you in the Eucharist. All right. Amen.