Thousands Celebrate Our Catholic Community

Near the end of the May 14 “Rejoice!” celebration and Mass at Evansville’s Ford Center, Bishop Charles C. Thompson spoke to the heart of the diocese’s first-ever signature event. Ford Center officials estimated the crowd at about 4,000.

“There is so much richness in our Catholic faith,” the bishop told the crowd just before the final blessing. “If we don’t gather and celebrate it … who will?”

This first Catholic community celebration focused on elements that some likely take for granted – the celebration of Mass, the Sacrament of Individual Reconciliation, the Rosary, and the rich legacy of traditional Catholic music.

No other Saturday Anticipatory Masses were celebrated across the diocese. “On this particular occasion, we gather as more than members of individual parishes,” Bishop Charles C. Thompson told those in attendance.  “We gather as a diocese, particularly the Diocese of Evansville – created in 1944, comprised of 12 counties and extending just beyond 5,000 square miles. 

“The underlying cause for our theme … is firm belief in God’s merciful gifts,” the bishop added.  “Instilled with the abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit, continuing with us since that very first Pentecost, we celebrate the beauty, goodness and truth of our Catholic identity, mission and presence as experienced in and through our lives, relationships, parishes, ministries and services.”

From the time the doors to the Ford Center opened at 2 p.m., people lined up for Individual Reconciliation. Volunteers built 10 individual stations, and all of them were busy for the full hour allotted as Bishop Thompson joined priests from across the diocese to administer the sacrament.

Inside the arena, message boards welcomed parishes from across the diocese and displayed historical highlights of the Catholic Church in Southwest Indiana.

Student choirs from Holy Rosary School in Evansville (the eighth-grade choir) and Evansville’s Mater Dei High School joined the student praise choir from St. Mary Parish in Huntingburg for a 3 p.m. concert. Evansville-area members of the Legion of Mary led the Rosary at 3:30, celebrating a tradition (i.e. Rosary before Mass) that occurs in parishes across the diocese. Members of the Knights of Columbus passed out finger Rosaries and prayer cards at the entrance to the Ford Center for those who arrived for the 3:30 prayers.

Fourth Degree members of the Knights of Columbus provided an Honor Guard as priests and permanent deacons of the diocese joined Bishop Thompson and Bishop-Emeritus Gerald A. Gettelfinger for the opening procession.

The Diocesan Office of Worship created a digital worship aid – including the Rosary before Mass – that the Ford Center staff projected on the big screens above the scoreboard, and on a 17-foot by 10-foot screen installed behind the altar.

“There is so much beauty, goodness and truth about our Church that rarely if ever makes it in any secular social media or popular imagination,” Bishop Thompson said in his homily. “Just to name a few:  We ordained two seminarians as deacons, just a month ago, to be ordained priests next year.  We are only weeks away from ordaining two priests and another deacon, to be ordained a priest later this year.  We continue to celebrate the richness of our unity in diversity from the various peoples and culture represented in our diocese.”

Representatives of many of those cultures participated in the offertory procession. Readings were given in English and Spanish, and the Spanish reading was projected on the big screens in English. Bishop Thompson delivered his  homily in English, and it appeared simultaneously on the big screens in Spanish.

More than two dozen priests and deacons distributed Communion at more than a half-dozen stations throughout the Ford Center. After the final prayer and before the final blessing, Bishop Thompson recognized married couples celebrating 50 or more years of marriage; priests and religious celebrating 50 or more years of service; and permanent deacons celebrating 30 or more years of service. Each received ovations from the crowd.

“I also want to recognize anyone celebrating 25 years or more as a bishop,” he added, eliciting an ovation for Bishop-Emeritus Gettelfinger.

“Where do we go from here?” the bishop asked during his homily. “Over the course of the next several years, I hope that we will be able to gather annually to celebrate some particular aspect of evangelization, continually being spurred on by the Holy Spirit as celebrated in this Solemnity of Pentecost, in our local Church … whether that focus might be on vocations, Catholic education, Catholic Charities, marriage and family, the key principles of Catholic social teaching, youth and young adults, caring for the environment, lay ministry, catechesis, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, Catholic organizations (e.g. Knights of Columbus, St. Vincent de Paul Society), charismatic renewal, and so on.”

After the Mass, Bishop Thompson posted a photo of the Mass’s closing procession to his social media accounts, saying, “Thanks to all involved in the preparation and celebration of our Diocesan Signature Mass at the Ford Center on the Vigil of Pentecost. We entrust ourselves to the grace of the Holy Spirit. May we remain ever attentive to the movement of the Spirit in carrying out the mission of Jesus Christ.”