Eucharistic Culture Project

Formation for Living as the Body of Christ

“There is nothing authentically human—our thoughts and affections, our words and deeds—that does not find in the sacrament of the Eucharist the form it needs to be lived to the full” (Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, no. 71).

Launched in 2022, the Eucharistic Culture Project is an initiative of the Mathis Liturgical Leadership Program, forming leaders to orient the Church’s preaching, teaching, prayer, and service around the Eucharistic mystery. The Project works within parishes, dioceses, schools, and apostolates to make possible the transformation of every crack and crevice of the cosmos through the Eucharistic mystery.

Program Overview

The 2025–27 Eucharistic Culture Project cohort comprises a partnership between the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy and the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate’s Church Properties Initiative. Over two years of formation and coursework, cohort members from a wide variety of backgrounds, including parish and diocesan ministry as well as architectural design and real estate development, will research and design projects focused on the pastoral issue of church property in a rapidly changing ecclesial landscape. The research question guiding our work is: how can the Church develop strategies for property management that take into account both the sacredness of Eucharistic space and the Church’s responsibility to the common good in neighborhoods? Participants will learn from experts and in conversation with their peers to think creatively about church property as a means of evangelization in its theological, liturgical, and economic dimensions.

Summer 2025
Week-long cohort orientation at the University of Notre Dame.

Fall 2025–Spring 2026
Two 6-week online courses.

Late Spring 2026
Five-day formation intensive in Rome, Italy.

Fall 2026
Final 6-week online course.

Early Spring 2027
Two-day immersion trip to St. Louis, Missouri.

Summer 2027
Three-day capstone gathering at the University of Notre Dame for project presentations and celebration.