St. Charles Borromeo parish hosted the second part of the annual Central Harlem Catholic Revival this past weekend. The event theme was “Faith in the Eucharist,” (“La Fe en la Eucaristía”), and the guest speaker was  Father Nelson Pichardo, parochial vicar of St. Mary-St. Peter parish in Kingston. 

“The Holy Eucharist is a great and beautiful mystery; it is the sacrament of our faith,” Father Pichardo said during one of his talks at the gathering, conducted in Spanish Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. He noted the Church’s Eucharistic efforts “to unite us, to call us, to place our hearts in consonance with the heart of Christ.”            

He added, “The Church walks with Christ by her side; that is why the Eucharist is an essential part of the Church. Moreover, the Church would not exist without the Eucharist.” Fr. Pichardo noted the importance of the three-year National Eucharistic Revival that began in 2022, declared by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.   

Citing the U.S. Bishops, he noted that just as Christ remained in the boat during the storm, “Christ remains in the Church during moments of turbulence, during moments of crisis. And the Lord has stayed with us because He said: I will be with you until the end of times. And the Lord has not failed. Amen?

And the people replied, “Amen!” 

Fr. Pichardo also noted that this promise from Christ “is the source of hope,” adding that the bishops “invoked the people of God to return to the temple (post Covid restrictions) for one thing: to celebrate the mystery of our faith…And I am here tonight and tomorrow to motivate all of you about this sacrament, and so that all of you would motivate others.” 

He talked of how Pope Francis and his predecessors have spoken about the significance, the importance of Holy Eucharist, adding, “It is called Communion because it is a communion of the Church with Christ, Divine Life with the people of God…The life of the parishes depends on the Eucharist.”

Father Willem Klaver, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo, in making welcoming remarks, said, “We rejoice in the Lord; on behalf of all the parishes here in Central Harlem, I welcome all of you as coordinator of the (archdiocesan) Central Harlem Cluster, and as pastor of the Parish of St. Charles Borromeo, Resurrection, and All Saints.” 

“This is my first revival in Spanish here in New York and I am filled with emotion to be here with all of you, and especially with our revivalist, Fr. Nelson Pichardo of Kingston…My dear friends, our world is wounded by hate, exclusion, violence…crisis in family life, drugs, alcohol, authoritarianism, white supremacy called Christian Nationalism,” Fr. Klaver noted.   

He added, “We all need to have faith in God…we need to experience the love of God that embraces all. We need to open ourselves to the Spirit of Life to be able to build the Kingdom of God on Earth. And that is why we need the Eucharist, that great sacrament.”

The faith-filled music at the Spanish revival was provided by singer/piano player David Lopez and the Spanish Choir of the Chapel of the Resurrection. Lopez is the music director for the Spanish Mass celebrations at the Chapel of the Resurrection, which is part of the Parish of St Charles Borromeo, Resurrection, and All Saints.     

The first part of the Central Harlem Catholic Revival featured guest speaker Deacon Lawrence Houston of St. Peter Claver parish in New Orleans, held the previous weekend and conducted in English at St. Aloysius parish. The theme of that gathering was “Stay Woke: Finding Our Way Back.”  

“We have a lot of politicians who want to use it, but they don’t truly understand the significance of the term; how it was born out of the black experience,” Deacon Houston said during one of his talks. “You see they don’t understand that if we really look at the definition of woke, it is defined as being alert to injustice and discrimination in society, especially racism…We can stay woke (awakened), not just in a political context, but also in a social and spiritual context.”