CCL Experiences and Blessings at NEC
“What a blessing!” “It was a once in a lifetime experience!”
These were the common responses from the CCL staff when asked about their experiences at the National Eucharistic Congress (NEC). From Wednesday to Sunday, July 17-21, CCL staff enjoyed seminars, breakout and Revival sessions, daily mass and adoration along with tens of thousands of other attendees.
It was peaceful and energizing all at the same time! Between Mass, Adoration, and speakers, there were so many opportunities to enrich your faith life. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I am blessed to have been a part of it.
Hannah Groene, CCL Office Manager
Silvia Schmidt, Sr. Manager International Development at CCL, had a long list of things she appreciated about her time at the Congress. The large numbers of priests and nuns and long lines for confession were amazing to her, rather than tedious! She was also able to enjoy the music, talks and games in the youth track with her teenage daughters.
CCL was also an exhibitor at NEC. The booth was geared toward sharing our updated fertility tracking app, PeakDay, and sharing our new and refreshed programs. We also sold unique products for families and children specially created for the NEC to attract attendees to the booth.
At the NEC it was so wonderful to meet all of the people who stopped by our booth. I’m especially grateful that I was able to meet, in person,many teaching couples and a new promoter.
Stacey Nagle, CCL National Volunteer Coordinator
As the staff took shifts, they were able to interact with teaching couples, former students and CCL STM users. They met parents and grandparents who have known CCL for 40+ years, and young women just beginning their fertility journey. McKenna Winiarczyk, CCL Customer Support Specialist, shared her experience. “One young lady joyfully exclaimed ‘I never knew this existed!’ after I told her about our Catholic fertility tracking app, PeakDay.”
For McKenna, and the staff, the NEC was more than they expected. “Attending the NEC was exactly what I needed. It helped to enrich my faith and deepen my love of the Church. It was also a great opportunity to help spread the word about the mission of Couple to Couple League.”
The first word that comes to mind when I think about the NEC is “hope”. In a very personal way, it truly was a revival for me in every sense of the word — a restoration of community, a renewal of commitment, an awakening of spirit, quite simply from being a witness to +60,000 Catholics gathered together to worship and refocus on Jesus.
Holly Livingston, CCL Sr. Digital marketing Project manager
Annie Roettker, CCL CFO, expressed the sentiments of all the staff. She stated, “What a great experience to spend time with staff celebrating the Eucharist. A once in a lifetime opportunity not only for me personally but to grow as a team with co-workers and get to know them on a different level.”
The recent Congress is the second phase of a three-part Revival in the US Catholic Church. According to their website, the National Eucharistic Revival moment is the joyful, expectant, grassroots response of the Church in the United States to the divine invitation to be united once again around the source and summit of our faith in the celebration of the Eucharist.
He’s alive in His Church! What an encouraging experience we have been blessed with by attending the NEC. The beauty of the liturgy accompanied by so many clergy, families and groups of people that traveled from far away to be together celebrating the thing we have in common, which is our love for the Real Prescence. A little taste of heaven!
Alejandra Balderas, CCL US and International Program Manager