The Church of St. Francis Xavier

The National Eucharistic Revival is a movement to deepen our understanding of the Eucharist.

As part of the National Eucharistic Revival, the Church of St. Francis Xavier will host lectures on the Eucharist by renowned liturgists, as well as a Eucharistic retreat and a book discussion.

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Moving into the Holy: Dance, Movement, and Posture in Worship

Presenter: Luz Marina Díaz, PhD
Date: May 5 at 1 p.m. in the Main Church & Online

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This lecture will explore a brief history of dance in worship, a rationale for incorporating dance in worship, and guidance for understanding various movement types and prayer postures in our liturgies.Luz Marina Díaz was born in Caracas, Venezuela. She worked as a system analyst while also pursuing her passion for dancing, choreography, and teaching in two major modern dance companies in Venezuela. Upon moving to New York in 1994, she discovered her calling as a religious educator, spiritual director, and liturgical dancer. With over 22 years of experience in Catechetical Leadership, she has served as the Director of the Religious Education Program at Xavier since August 2007. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Universidad Central de Venezuela, a Master of Arts degree in Religious Education (M.A.) from Fordham University, a Ph.D. degree in Religious Education from Fordham University, an advanced certificate in spiritual direction of the Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola from Fairfield University, and an advanced certificate in supervision from Fordham University. She is also the Director of the Spiritual Direction Practicum at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education.

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Mass Classes

As a part of the Xavier Eucharistic Revival, we will be conducting four Mass classes that will be held simultaneously with the regular Masses at Xavier. These Mass classes will occur at the Xavier High School Chapel on the second floor of 30 West 16th Street.

The Mass Class schedule is:
Saturday, February 3: 5:00 pm Mass
Sunday, March 3: 9:00 am Mass
Sunday, April 14: 5:00 pm Mass
Sunday, May 5: 11:30 am Mass

A Mass class is a celebration of Mass that includes an explanation of its various parts. Throughout the Mass, the priest takes the time to explain essential elements of each part of the celebration, including the Introductory Rites, Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Eucharist, and Concluding Rites, as well as relevant liturgical-related information such as liturgical year, liturgical colors, vestments, etc. At certain moments of the Mass, the presider will invite the attendees to pose questions regarding the liturgy. This helps participants to understand better and appreciate our Catholic liturgy.

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Previous Lectures

The Xavier Eucharistic Revival will begin on October 1 at 1 p.m. with a talk by Father Peter Fink, SJ. Father Peter will preside over the 11:30 a.m. Mass and then deliver his presentation at 1:00 p.m. in the Main Church.

Presenter: Father Peter Fink, SJ
Title: The Eucharist: Four Elements of Catholic Faith
Date: October 1, 2023
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Place: Main Church

Description: As an introduction to the Eucharistic Revival lectures, we will look at four elements of our faith:
(a) institution of the Eucharist by Christ,
(b) the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist,
(c) the Meal which presents the Sacrifice of Christ,
(d) and the Vision of the Future, which the Eucharist offers.

Fr. Peter E. Fink, S.J. currently resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during his semi-retirement. He spent the last six years as a retreat director at the Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center in Atlanta. Before that, he worked for ten years as Associate Pastor at St. Francis Xavier Church in New York. This was after his 31-year teaching at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge. As a Jesuit from the New York Province, he presides over the Latin and Maronite churches. Fr. Fink holds an MS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an STM from Woodstock College, and a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Emory University, which he earned in 1976. He has authored Worship: Praying the Sacraments (Pastoral Press), edited The New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship (Liturgical Press/Glazier), and contributed to two volumes in the Alternative Futures for Worship series (Liturgical Press): IV, on Reconciliation, and VII, on Anointing of the Sick, among other publications and numerous articles.

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Presenter: Father John Baldovin, SJ
Title: A Short History of the Eucharist.
Date: October 29, 2023
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Place: Main Church & Online
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John F. Baldovin is Professor of Historical and Liturgical Theology at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. He is a priest of the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus. He received his BA from the College of the Holy Cross, an MDiv from Weston School of Theology, an MA, MPhil and PhD from Yale University.

Fr. Baldovin has taught at Fordham University, the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and, since 1999 at Weston Jesuit School of Theology and now BC’s STM. He has also been visiting professor at The University of Notre Dame and St. John Vianney National Seminary in Pretoria, South Africa. He served on the advisory committee for the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy of the USCCB (1989-1993) as well as the advisory committee of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) from 1994-2002. He is past president of the N. American Academy of Liturgy as well as the international ecumenical Societas Liturgica. He received the Berakah Award for distinguished achievement from the NAAL in 2007. He is currently president of the International Jungmann Society for Jesuits and the Liturgy. He has also received the Jubilate Deo award from the National Association of Pastoral Musicians in 2021.

He has served on the Board of Trustees of the College of the Holy Cross and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Fairfield University. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the journal, Theological Studies. His fields of expertise are the history and theology of the liturgy, sacramental theology and the theology of ministry ordained and lay. Fr. Baldovin assists on weekends at the Catholic parishes in Cambridge and Lexington, MA. He has published on liturgy widely in journals including Worship, Theological Studies, America and Commonweal. His writings have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Albanian.

Fr. Baldovin has a number of presentations with Now You Know Media, the latest of which, The History of the Mass, has recently been released as a DVD. His latest books are Living Bread, Saving Cup: Understanding the Mass (Rowman and Littlefield, 2003), Reforming the Liturgy: A Response to the Critics (Liturgical Press, 2008) and Catholic Sacraments, edited with David Turnbloom (Paulist Press, 2015). He has also co-edited a commentary on the revised Order of Mass with Mary Collins, Edward Foley, and Joanne Pierce (20090.)

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Presenter: Rita Ferrone
Title: Pastoral Guide to Pope Francis’s Desiderio Desideravi
Date: January 7, 2024
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Place: Main Church & Online

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Rita Ferrone is an award-winning writer and frequent speaker on liturgy and church renewal issues in the Roman Catholic tradition. Rita’s books include Liturgy: Sacrosanctum Concilium (Paulist Press), Sourcebook for Sundays and Seasons 2006(LTP), and On the Rite of Election (LTP). She co-authored the eighteen-volume series Foundations in Faith (RCL-Benziger) and the parish renewal program Living the Eucharist (Paulist Evangelization Ministries). Her articles and essays have been translated into eight different languages. Her commentary has also appeared in The Washington Post and on CNN International. Her last book is Pastoral Guide to Pope Francis’ Desiderio Desideravi has been reviewed by Father James Martin, SJ. as “A clear, helpful, and pastoral guide to one of Pope Francis’s most important documents, by one of the world’s leading experts in the liturgy—and, as an added benefit, a great writer!”

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Presenter: Father Bruce Morrill, SJ
Title: The Eucharist, Faith, and Social Justice
Date: Sunday, April 7
Time: 1:00 PM
Place: Main Church & Online

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Dr. Bruce Morrill focuses his theological scholarship in the area of liturgy and sacraments, drawing upon a range of interdisciplinary resources in the fields of systematic and historical theology, ritual studies, cultural anthropology, and biblical studies. His other primary and strongly related interest is in political theologies, as they investigate the problems of suffering in social contexts.

His work has come together most comprehensively in his books, Practical Sacramental Theology: At the Intersection of Liturgy and Ethics (Cascade Books, 2021), Divine Worship and Human Healing: Liturgical Theology at the Margins of Life and Death (Pueblo/Liturgical Press, 2009), and Anamnesis as Dangerous Memory: Political and Liturgical Theology in Dialogue (Pueblo/Liturgical Press, 2000).

Other recent books include Encountering Christ in the Eucharist: The Paschal Mystery in People, Word, and Sacrament (Paulist Press, 2012) and The Essential Writings of Bernard Cooke: A Narrative Theology of Church, Sacrament, and Ministry (Paulist Press, 2016). His current research and writing projects include constructing a mystical-political theology (mystagogy) of the Easter Season.

Dr. Morrill is Past President of the North American Academy of Liturgy. He has lectured widely in North America, Europe, and Australia and has enjoyed appointments to visiting chairs and fellowships at a number of institutions in the USA, Belgium, and Ireland. Prior to coming to Vanderbilt, Professor Morrill was on the faculty of Boston College for fifteen years, where he served as Graduate Program Director in the Theology Department. At present he is Director of the new Doctor of Ministry program at Vanderbilt Divinity School.

Bruce Morrill is a Roman Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). In Nashville he presides and preaches at area parishes, as needed, provides pastoral-liturgical ministry at state prisons (Riverbend Maximum Security Institute, Tennessee Prison for Women, and the Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility) and serves as Spiritual Liaison for the local community of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. During Holy Week and Easter, 2019, he resumed his occasional pastoral service to Yup’ik eskimo villages in western Alaska, where he had made annual trips from 2001 to 2010, as well as in 2015.

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In the Breaking of the Bread
An Experience of Imaginative Prayer

Wednesday, April 10 | 7:00 PM | Zoom

The next event will be In the Breaking of the Bread: A Prayer Experience on Wednesday, April 10 at 7:00 PM via Zoom with facilitators Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe and Luz Marina Díaz. Travel with Jesus to Emmaus and experience firsthand in your imagination what it is to encounter Christ in the breaking of the bread.

You can join the Zoom here:

Book Discussion

Book: Bread of Life, Cup of Salvation: Understanding the Mass by Father John Baldovin, SJ

Read aloud at Bread of Life, Cup of Salvation: Understanding the Mass: Baldovin, John Francis: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming: Internet Archive Facilitators: Catherine Wolfe and Belinda Conway

Session 1 – Thursday, October 12, 2023 @ 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. by Zoom. Introduction through Chapter 3. CLICK HERE FOR ZOOM LINK.
Session 2 – Tuesday, October 24, 2023 @ 7-00 -8:30 p.m. by Zoom. Chapters 4 through 7. CLICK HERE FOR ZOOM LINK.
Session 3 – Thursday, November 16, 2023 @ 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. by Zoom. Chapters 8 through 9. CLICK HERE FOR ZOOM LINK.
Session 4 – Tuesday, November 28, 2023 @ 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. by Zoom. Chapter 10. CLICK HERE FOR ZOOM LINK.