Becoming Eucharistic People: The Hope and Promise of Parish Life

Winner of a first-place award in the future church category from the Catholic Media Association.

We can't just talk about Christ's presence in the Eucharist; we have to believe it, celebrate it, and live it both individually and as a community of the faithful. And we must cultivate a culture in our parishes that treats Real Presence not only as an important Catholic doctrine, but also as the most important part of parish identity.

In Becoming Eucharistic People, theologian Timothy P. O'Malley, author of Real Presence, outlines four essential dimensions of a Eucharistic culture in a parish--one that fosters reverence and unity among the faithful, includes every dimension of human life in the mystery of Christ's Body and Blood, and invites people back to parish life or to become Catholic for the first time.

O'Malley--director of education at the McGrath Institute of Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, and a member of the executive planning team for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Eucharistic Revival--shows what it means to foster a parish culture where the Eucharist infuses the worldview, priorities, and practices of its members. O'Malley leads you through discovery and discernment about how to create a parish culture where each person is called to holiness and receives the spiritual, theological, and pastoral help they need to meet Christ fully present in the Eucharist and to become a witness to him in the world.

O'Malley will help you reflect on four essential facets of a Eucharistic parish culture:

• liturgies of joyful reverence that celebrate the gifts of diversity;
• formation that engages the mind, imagination, understanding, and will;
• a rich life of popular piety and the vibrancy of the domestic Church; and
• a commitment to solidarity with your neighbor.

O'Malley says that when we reflect Christ's Real Presence to others, our parishes will become sacred spaces in which every person is led to deeper communion with God and with their neighbors.

Online resources, including ideas for parish retreats, teaching resources, and videos based on this book and the US bishops Eucharistic Revival are available from the McGrath Institute for Church Life.

Books in the Engaging Catholicism series from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame help readers discover the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith through a concise exploration of the Church's most important but often difficult-to-grasp doctrines as well as crucial pastoral and spiritual practices. Perfect for seekers and new Catholics, clergy and catechetical leaders, and everyone in between, the series expands the McGrath Institute's mission to connect the Catholic intellectual life at Notre Dame to the pastoral life of the Church and the spiritual needs of her people.

Timothy P. O'Malley is a Catholic theologian, author, and professor. He serves as the associate director for research at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy. He regularly teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in sacramental theology, marriage and family, catechesis, and spirituality.

O'Malley earned his bachelor's degree in theology and philosophy and his master's degree in theology with a concentration in liturgical studies from the University of Notre Dame. He earned a doctorate in theology and education from Boston College, where he wrote on liturgical formation in the writings of Augustine of Hippo.

O'Malley is the author of many books, including three award-winning books published by Ave Maria Press: Off the Hook: God, Love, Dating, and Marriage in a Hookup World; Real Presence: What Does It Mean and Why Does It Matter?; and Becoming Eucharistic People: The Hope and Promise of Parish Life. His most recent book, Behold, Believe, Become: Meeting the Hidden Christ in Things We See, Say, and Do at Mass, has also been well received. He has written for scholarly journals, the McGrath Institute for Church Life's Church Life Journal, and popular magazines throughout the United States.

O'Malley is the lead investigator on two grants from the Lilly Foundation: one related to preaching and the other to children and worship. These grants pertain to his interest in cultivating a contemplative and sacramental imagination in an age dominated by technology, spectacle, and polarization.

He lives with his family in the South Bend, Indiana, area.

The McGrath Institute for Church Life was founded as the Center for Pastoral and Social Ministry by the late Notre Dame president Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, in 1976. The McGrath Institute partners with Catholic dioceses, parishes, and schools to provide theological education and formation to address pressing pastoral problems. The Institute connects the Catholic intellectual tradition to the pastoral life of the Church in forming faithful Catholic leaders for service to the Church and the world. The McGrath Institute strives to be the preeminent source of creative Catholic content and programming for the new evangelization in the United States.

The Most Rev. Andrew Cozzens, formerly archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, is bishop of the Diocese of Crookston and chairman of the board of the 2024 Eucharistic Revival Congress, as well as chairman of the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis.