As we can read on the National Eucharistic Revival website, “The Church needs healing. And the world needs the Church.” This current year — June 2023 to July 2024 — is focused on Eucharistic devotion at the parish level. To foster this devotion here at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, we will host Fr. Dave Zimmer for a retreat on Saturday, Nov. 4, that will focus on stewardship in relation to the Eucharistic Revival.
“There are four pillars of the Eucharistic Revival and four pillars of stewardship,” Fr. Zimmer says. “We will delve more deeply into those.”
Fr. Zimmer will also talk about Blessed Carlo Acutis, one of the patrons of the Eucharistic Revival. Blessed Carlo Acutis said, “The Eucharist is my highway to Heaven.”
“Blessed Carlo Acutis is an inspiration for our young people,” Fr. Zimmer says. “He had such a passion for the Eucharist in his short life. Some have called him a ‘millennial saint of our time.’”
As the retreat approaches, Fr. Zimmer looks forward to delving more deeply into the topic and sharing it with our parish. He has led more than 50 stewardship retreats, but this is the first where he’s drawn parallels to the Eucharistic Revival. Teaching about stewardship is a passion for Fr. Zimmer. His previous parish, St. John’s in Minot, N.D., embraced the stewardship way of life during his time there.
“How do we use our talents to build the Body of Christ through the Eucharistic Revival?” he says. “That’s how I’ve connected them.”
The Gospel for the weekend is Matthew 21:28-32. It focuses on a change of mind and heart, another perfect parallel for the retreat.
“We need to have a change of mind to understand the Eucharist and start living our Eucharistic lives in a stewardship way,” Fr. Zimmer says. “Then, we need to take it to heart and have that be how we live from then on.”
Having served as a priest of the Diocese of Bismarck, Fr. Dave Zimmer now lives in St. Paul, Minn., where he grew up. While he’s been retired from the priesthood for about two years, he continues to do stewardship retreats — it’s been such a joy for him.
“I like going into a parish community that I’m not familiar with and sharing with them what I, as a pastor, was able to discover in my parish community about stewardship,” he says. “I love bringing what we have learned to someone else to see what they can learn.”
An interesting fact about Fr. Zimmer is that he has a twin, and the two usually spend three months each year living in Assisi, Italy. They have found an English-speaking community there, and it’s become like a second home.
“It’s been a real gift to spend time there,” he says. “In the end, it shows our desire for the Eucharist and Word of God is universal. We are a universal community of believers.”
Don’t miss the parish retreat with Fr. Dave Zimmer on Nov. 4. For more information, visit contact the parish office.