Letter from Archbishop Thompson

Letter on National Eucharistic Revival Impact Study

Dear Friends in Christ!

In June of 2022, the bishops of the United States began a three-year initiative, a National Eucharistic Revival, to inspire Catholics across the nation who are healed, converted, formed, and unified by an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist—and who are then sent out on mission “for the life of the world.” The Eucharistic Revival culminated in the first National Eucharistic Congress in 83 years and a first-of-its kind National Eucharistic Pilgrimage with five different routes across the United States. We did not set out to create another program, but a grassroots movement of Catholics who were filled with grace and zeal, hearts ablaze with Christ’s love, and sent out on mission to share this love with the world.

In conjunction with the National Eucharistic Congress corporation, the USCCB partnered with Vinea Research, a Catholic marketing firm to conduct an impact study of the National Eucharistic Revival. This study, titled “Share your perspective / Comparte tu perspectiva: A National Survey of Catholics / Una encuesta nacional de católicos,” looked at how Catholics from various walks of life experienced the National Eucharistic Revival.

This study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, a number of Catholics sat for one-on-one interviews about their experiences of the Eucharistic Revival. The participants were Catholics from a variety of backgrounds and included clergy, laity, and consecrated religious. These interviews shaped the questions included in the full survey sent out in the second phase. A selection of key quotes from these interviews are included throughout the final report.

In the second phase of the impact study, a general survey was sent out to a broad number of individuals, including contacts who received official National Eucharistic Revival communications (e.g., volunteers, attendees, etc.) and Catholics who were not formally associated with the Revival (from a list of unique contacts provided by Vinea Research—identified in the final report at “GenPop”).

The individuals connected with the National Eucharistic Revival were subsequently divided into two groups for survey purposes:

1) the ecclesial segment: clergy and any Church staff/volunteers who helped to coordinate and implement the Eucharistic Revival on the national or local level

2) the general laity segment: contacts who received National Eucharistic Revival communications or participated in the National Eucharistic Congress and Pilgrimage, but who had not formally volunteered to assist in implementing the National Eucharistic Revival

Because the bishops hoped to inspire a grassroots initiative among Catholics, much of the data in the survey pertains to observations from the general laity segment or about them by the ecclesial segment. The “GenPop” Catholic contacts provided by Vinea Research participated in the same survey as the general laity segment to act as a reference point for the survey data. The results of the survey are provided in the accompanying slide deck for further consideration.

In his address at the Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals on January 7, 2026, Pope Leo XIV spoke about the consistory’s decision to focus on synodality and the Church’s mission to evangelize. He admonished the cardinals, saying,

We want to be a Church that does not look only at itself, that is missionary, that looks beyond itself, at others. The raison d'être of the Church is not for cardinals, bishops or clergy. Its raison d'être is to proclaim the Gospel. And so these two themes: Synod and synodality, as an expression of seeking to be a missionary Church in today’s world, and Evangelii gaudium, proclaiming the kerygma, the Gospel with Christ at its center. This is our mission. (Pope Leo XIV, Impromptu words at the end of the First Session of the Extraordinary Consistory, January 7, 2026)

At the closing of the consistory Pope Leo affirmed a link between synodality and the Eucharist. His admonishment to the cardinals also extends to bishops and episcopal conferences:

The path of synodality is a path of communion for mission, in which we are all called to participate. This is why the bonds between us are important. You have emphasized the importance of the Holy Father’s connection, in particular with the Episcopal Conferences and with the local Churches, and the importance of the continental Assemblies. However, these too must not become “extra” meetings to be added to a list, but places of encounter and relationship between bishops with priests and lay people, and between Churches, which greatly help to promote authentic missionary creativity. (Pope Leo XIV, Concluding Address for the Extraordinary Consistory, January 8, 2026)

Mindful of this call to listen to the Church, as the initial three-year period of the National Eucharistic Revival came to a close this last Corpus Christi Sunday, the bishops decided to take time to hear from Catholics in the United States about their experiences of the fruits of the Eucharistic Revival, to recognize ongoing needs within the Church, and to identify areas for potential growth in the future.

We hope that these survey results will assist the Church in the United States as she continues in her essential mission of evangelization, the source and summit of which is the Eucharist (see Ecclesia de Eucharistia, no. 22).

May the Lord bless you in your efforts to bear witness to the great gift we have received in the Eucharist, and may Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and Our Mother, intercede for you and guide you closer to her Son.

Yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Charles C. Thompson
Chairman, USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis