My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Our National Eucharistic Congress last month was a profound moment for the Church as 60,000 Catholics gathered in Indianapolis for this moving and memorable event, and countless more joined us via livestream. The Chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress, Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, said that “God showed us at this Congress how good He is and how much He loves us, and that He’s not done yet. … The focus was on Jesus and the Eucharist and surrendering our hearts more to Him and drawing close to Him, and then also asking Him to strengthen us for a mission.”

The National Eucharistic Revival, of which the Congress was a major part, now continues with a special Year of Mission, which calls for Catholics to share their rekindled love of the Eucharist with other people. This task will not be easy in a world that is becoming increasingly indifferent and even hostile to Christianity.

For example, less than a week after the concluding Mass for the National Eucharistic Congress, the opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympics in Paris, France, included a parody of the Last Supper featuring a dozen drag queens behind a long table in a scene reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting that depicts that sacred occasion when Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist.

The headline in NBC News said, “Drag performance resembling Last Supper at Olympic opening ceremony rankles conservatives.”  Really? Just conservatives? All Christians, including liberals and progressives, should be outraged by this mockery of the Catholic faith! Non-Christians should also find it offensive when anyone’s religious beliefs are ridiculed.

The Bishops’ Conference of France issued a statement criticizing the “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we deeply deplore. We thank the members of other religious denominations who have expressed their solidarity. This morning, we think of all Christians on all continents who have been hurt by the outrage and provocation of certain scenes,” the French bishops said.

I am grateful to the Catholic Bishops of France for speaking out on behalf of “all Christians on all continents who have been hurt by the outrage and provocation” at the Olympic opening ceremonies.

Not surprisingly, the organizers of the 2024 Paris Olympics attempted to defend their outrageous scene. Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet said, “We imagined a ceremony to show our values and our principles so we gave a very committed message. The idea was to really trigger a reflection. We wanted to have a message as strong as possible.” Yes, the message of the 2024 Paris Olympics certainly was strongly insulting to all Christians.

Paris 2024 artistic director Thomas Jolly said, “Our idea was inclusion. … We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together. We wanted to include everybody.” Apparently diversity and inclusion do not include Christians.

It would be good for us to recall the history of the Olympic Games. According to History.com, “The Olympic Games, which originated in ancient Greece as many as 3,000 years ago, were revived in the late 19^th century and have become the world’s preeminent sporting competition. From the 8^th century B.C. to the 4^th century A.D., the Games were held every four years in Olympia, located in the western Peloponnese peninsula, in honor of the god Zeus. The first modern Olympics took place in 1896 in Athens.”

Why did the Olympic Games cease competition from the 4^th century until nearly the end of the 19^th century? Again, History.com explains: “After the Roman Empire conquered Greece in the mid-2^nd century B.C., the Games continued, but their standards and quality declined. In one notorious example from A.D. 67, the decadent Emperor Nero entered an Olympic chariot race, only to disgrace himself by declaring himself the winner even after he fell off his chariot during the event. In A.D. 393, Emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, called for a ban on all ‘pagan’ festivals, ending the ancient Olympic tradition after nearly 12 centuries. It would be another 1,500 years before the Games would rise again.”

Sadly, decadent influences have returned to disgrace the Olympics. While we do not have a Christian Emperor with the power to ban “pagan” festivals, we can make our own decisions about whether to support scandalous exhibitions that ridicule and disparage our deeply held religious beliefs. Personally, when I heard of the insulting mockery of the Last Supper at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2024 Olympic Games, I decided not to watch any of the events taking place this summer in Paris.

As we continue our National Eucharistic Revival with this special Year of Mission, we should not be deterred in deepening our devotion and reverence for the Eucharist by those who insult Our Lord and our belief in Christ’s Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, by which we are strengthened in our communion with Jesus and with each other as members of His Church. May God give us this grace. Amen.