Wednesday, February 15, 2012

‘Communion in Suffering and Healing' theme announced for IEC2012

The organisers of June’s 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin have announced that it will explore the theme of Communion in Suffering and Healing through a special celebration of the anointing of the sick and a Mass celebrated by Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem on June 15.

The announcement was made in a statement marking World Day of the Sick, on Sunday and IEC2012 General Secretary, Fr Kevin Doran said the Congress would also address the issues of the exclusion and isolation of the sick.  

Fr Doran said the healing ministry of Jesus was not just about curing people physically, but also about drawing them back into full participation in the life of the community from which their illness often excluded them.

“Suffering has a way of isolating people.  This is sometimes because of their own physical frailty and sometimes because we who are well, are often unsure of how to respond to suffering,” he commented.

“It is an essential element of the mission of the Church today that we continue to seek ways of keeping people in communion even when they are no longer visible in the community on a daily basis. This remains a challenge for the Church both on a social and on a pastoral level,” Fr Doran said.

In his Message for the World Day of the Sick, which falls on the Feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, Pope Benedict said he wished to renew his spiritual nearness to all sick people who are in places of care or are looked after in their families.  

The Pontiff highlighted the sacraments of healing, particularly the anointing of the sick, which have their natural completion in the Eucharistic communion.  Eucharistic Communion is the focus of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress.

In his message, Pope Benedict said the principal task of the Church is proclaiming the Kingdom of God. However, he underlined that this proclamation, “must be a process of healing: 'bind up the broken-hearted' (Is 61:1), according to the charge entrusted by Jesus to his disciples.”

He added, “The tandem of physical health and renewal after lacerations of the soul thus helps us to understand better the sacraments of healing.”

Referring to this year’s theme for World Day of the Sick, Stand up and go; your faith has saved you, Pope Benedict said it looked forward to the forthcoming Year of Faith which will begin on October 11 2012, a valuable occasion to rediscover the strength and beauty of faith and to bear witness to it in daily life.

In words of encouragement to the sick, the Pope said he hoped that in their suffering, they always to find a safe anchor in faith. 

He invited pastors to be increasingly ready to celebrate the sacraments for the sick. 

“Following the example of the Good Shepherd, and as guides of the flocks entrusted to them, priests should be full of joy, attentive to the weakest, the simple and sinners, expressing the infinite mercy of God with reassuring words of hope,” the Pope stated.

In a message of solidarity to all those who work in the field of health and the families of the sick, he renewed his thanks on behalf of the Church for their work and witness. 

“In their professional expertise and in silence, often without even mentioning the name of Christ, they manifest him in a concrete way,” the Pope explained. 

Throughout June’s International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, there will be an extensive programme of workshops, talks and keynote addresses.  

On Friday June 15, many of the programme events will focus on the theme of healing and the promotion of a richer communion with those who suffer in body, mind or spirit. 

Another aspect of this theme of Communion is the important place of people with disability in the community of the Church.  

Six workshops during the Congress will be signed for the deaf and jointly facilitated by people who are themselves deaf.  

Br Donatus Forkan will offer a workshop entitled Including People from the Margins, while Fr Niall Ahern will present on the theme of Disability and Active Participation.

The theme of disability will come to life in a particular way in a sensory garden, which will be prepared and maintained by people with disability, in the grounds of the Poor Clare Monastery that is being used as one of the chapels of adoration for the Congress.

Keynote speakers on this day of healing include Rose Busingye, a Ugandan nurse who has devoted her life to the care of people suffering with AIDS. 

A workshop on Co-dependency, Communion and Healing will be facilitated by Sr Consilio Fitzgerald, from the Cuan Mhuire Centre.

Archbishop Bashar Warda of Iraq and Archbishop Rrock Kola Mirdita of Tirana, Albania will speak about the experience of personal suffering that is so often the result of tyranny and religious intolerance.

The 50th International Eucharistic Congress will take place from June 10 to 17 and up to 25,000 pilgrims are expected each day at the RDS, of whom about 50% will come from overseas. 

On June 17, more than 80,000 people are expected to gather in Croke Park to celebrate the final Mass.

The Congress is an international gathering of people, that takes place every four years somewhere in the world, and which aims to promote an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church in order to help improve our understanding and celebration of the liturgy and to draw attention to the social dimension of the Eucharist.

These aims are achieved through a programme of pastoral preparation in the years leading up to the Congress and a programme of liturgical and cultural events, lectures and workshops over the course of one week.

Previous Congresses took place in Quebec (2008) and Guadalajara (2004).