STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — On Saturday evening, Scripture scholar and theologian Scott Hahn will join the throngs of Christians processing through Indianapolis, led by Jesus in the Eucharistic host; a culmination of the three-year National Eucharistic Revival happening there this week. As the crowds dissipate, Hahn will pack up the enthusiasm he collects to bring it to the Fargo Diocese in September, when locals will receive him—one of the most renowned experts on the Eucharist today—and continue the procession here through the humble streets of Jamestown, North Dakota. “This is no longer just religious rhetoric,” said an excited Hahn from his home in Ohio.
“It’s the closest encounter with Jesus that anyone can have; to unite ourselves to him in Holy Communion!” He added, “It’s time we blow off the dust and look more closely at what we have been professing, and really allow it to possess us and transfigure the way we live our days, and especially the Lord’s Day.” Growing up in Pennsylvania, Hahn was a delinquent teenager with a hostile attitude toward the Catholic Church. He later became a Presbyterian pastor intent on disproving the Catholic Church.
His conversion story recounts his surprise about-face after he attended an ordinary daily Mass in a basement chapel while studying at Marquette University. ADVERTISEMENT “By the time (the priest) got to the words of consecration, I felt as though a light came on inside my heart, and I’m like, ‘That’s you.