Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Speculation mounts over Pope's attendance at Eucharistic Congress

According to a story in this week’s Catholic weekly, The Tablet, the attendance of Pope Benedict at the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin next year is looking increasingly likely.

According to The Tablet (http://bit.ly/mgwGdQ/) Archbishop Piero Marini, the President of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, gave “the strongest hint yet” that Pope Benedict XVI will attend the Congress, which takes place from June 10 to 17  2012.

Speaking exclusively to The Tablet, Archbishop Marini, who was formerly Master of Ceremonies both to Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II, said in Dublin last week that he was hopeful Pope Benedict will officiate at the Congress's closing liturgy on June 17 at Croke Park.  

He told The Tablet he "hoped the gathering for the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin would be presided over by the Bishop of Rome.”

While the Congress’s opening ceremony is confirmed for the RDS and will be performed by the papal legate, the statis orbis will take place at the Congress’s other key venue, Croke Park, which has a capacity of over 80,000.

On the first day of the three-day gathering in Dublin at All Hallows College last week, Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin met members of the Pontifical Council for the International Eucharistic Congress to update them on the preparations being made for next year's Congress.

Secretary General of the organising committee, Fr Kevin Doran, told 83 delegates from 70 countries that online registration for the event was now officially open and bookings had already been confirmed by groups from the UK, Canada as well as Taiwan, the Ivory Coast and Paraguay.

A host of high profile international speakers have been lined up for next year’s Congress, the theme of which is The Eucharist: Communion With Christ and With One Another.  Daily crowds of up to 25,000 are expected to participate in workshops and catechesis sessions at the RDS given by leading bishops, theologians, Anglicans and members of the laity.

Amongst the confirmed speakers at the Congress are Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras who is President of Caritas Internationalis; Brother Alois, Prior of Taizé and Archbishop Michael Jackson, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin.

Ahead of the International Eucharistic Congress next year details are now available for a National Eucharistic Congress in Ireland at Knock at the end of this month.

The National Congress brings parishes and dioceses together to celebrate the Eucharist.  

During this month's celebration twenty-six candles will be blessed, one for each of the Cathedrals in Ireland. 

The candles will then be brought back to each diocese and will form part of the celebrations for the Feast of Corpus Christi.

In his address to the international delegates last week, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin told the assembled bishops and archbishops from dioceses across the world that the Irish Church is facing “a challenging path of renewal.”

He said the presence at the Eucharistic Congress of pilgrims from around the world would constitute an enormous encouragement to the Irish Church in its efforts at renewal and would be “a sign of solidarity and support for the Church in Ireland.”

In his address entitled, Statutory obligations in the year preceding the International Eucharistic Congress, Archbishop Marini spoke about Eucharistic ecclesiology and the practice of Eucharistic devotions.

Speaking afterwards to CiNews, Mgr Marini described the Eucharistic Congress as “a celebration of unity.”  

He said, “The celebration of the Eucharist is a communion – koinonia – both with Christ and with one another.  So the whole scope of the Eucharistic congress is actually to bring together many different elements which can have their own distinct significance but which all belong to the one unity.”

Bishop Donal McKeown of Down and Connor praised Mgr Marini’s address saying it suggested that any devotion to the Eucharist without a recognition of the communal dimension of Christ’s presence among us is a misunderstanding of why Christ came.

Asked if he was concerned that the numbers attending the Congress next year might be small due to a lack of enthusiasm for the event, Bishop Philip Boyce of Raphoe told CiNews, “It is very hard to say what the numbers are going to be like.  I think the important thing is not the number you are going to have but what people understand about it.”

Referring to the pilgrimage of the Congress Bell around Ireland’s 26 dioceses, Bishop Boyce said, “We thought that could be in some ways a flop.  A lot of priests didn’t understand it.  Yet, so far it has been very successful and it has raised a lot of enthusiasm and awareness of the Congress.”