New book by Morgan County Catholic will help you ‘better understand what we believe in the Eucharist, but in a deeper context of our faith’
Kara; son, John; and daughter, Marie. The Haddens are parishioners at St. Alexius Parish in Beardstown. Hadden’s book, The Eucharistic Revival Project, is now available for purchase.
The Eucharistic Revival Project includes section written by our Father Dominic Rankin
By ANDREW HANSEN
Editor
Phillip Hadden of Concord (rural Morgan County) was “astonished” by the 2019 Pew Study that found only 30 percent of Catholics believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Said another way, 70 percent of Catholics either don’t know or don’t believe what the Catholic Church teaches, that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ. That sparked in him a desire to start a Catholic website, missiodeicatholic.org, to help educate people on the Catholic faith.
“Missio Dei’s charism is founded on the proclamation of the Gospel — the good news of Jesus Christ,” Hadden said. “I listened for a long time to many different Catholic podcasts or read Catholic publications which I felt stoked too much division within the Catholic Church, so I felt compelled to start something different that Catholics, within the pluralism that exists within the Church itself, could join together writing about Jesus and the beauty of His Church.”
Fast forward to today, and Hadden, a parishioner of St. Alexius Parish in Beardstown, has expanded his reach, by compiling and editing a book during the nationwide Eucharistic Revival going on now, fittingly called The Eucharistic Revival Project. The book has several contributing authors, one of them being Father Dominic Rankin of our diocese.
“The book is written for all Catholics to help better understand what we believe in the Eucharist, but in a deeper context of our faith,” Hadden said. “I once heard that St. John Henry Newman said regarding the Mass, ‘To me nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Masses forever, and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words — it is a great action, the greatest action that can be on earth.’
“That’s it! That is the big takeaway I hope people get from our book, an understanding of the Eucharist truly being our sacrificial Lord present at every Mass, offering Himself to the Father for our sins in a single, bloodless sacrifice,” he said. “It is the veil being lifted on earth where we really do get a small glimpse of heaven — how profound.”
You can find The Eucharistic Revival Project on Amazon. If you have Amazon Kindle Unlimited, you can read the book for no additional cost. You can also buy the book directly from the publisher.