Registration opens for 2012 International Eucharistic Congress

(June 03, 2011) Registration has officially opened for the 50th International Eucharistic Congress scheduled to take centre stage in the Irish capital, Dublin, around this time next year. Delegates from some 70 countries, including members of the Vatican’s Pontifical Committee for the International Eucharistic Congress, met in Dublin, June 1-3, to hear plans for the Church event, which takes place every four years. “The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one another,” is the theme of the June 10-17, 2012 International Eucharistic Congress. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin described the event as a "vital element in the reform agenda of the Irish church." As part of the spiritual preparation for the international event an Irish national Eucharistic conference has been scheduled at Knock shrine June 25-26, including the Knock Youth Festival. Father Kevin Doran, secretary-general of the International Eucharistic Congress organizing committee, said: "The celebration in Knock is a chance to focus on the local community and the pastoral preparation in Ireland for the International Congress next year.