IEC2012 an extraordinary moment for Irish Church: Card. Ouellet
June 09, 2012: “My hope is that the Church in Ireland be really strengthened in its
identity as communion of God among people and through this testimony of others who
are coming to visit and to share the same faith together with the people in Ireland”,
says Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and Papal Legate
to the 50th International Eucharistic Congress scheduled for June 10th
to 17th in Dublin, Ireland. Cardinal Ouellet is presiding at the Opening
Mass in the RDS Arena on Sunday June 10th. At the heart of the Congress, which takes place every four years, is the daily celebration of the Eucharist. The Congress programme also includes other liturgical events, cultural events, catechesis, testimonies and workshops, aiming to promote an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church as well as help improve the understanding and celebration of the liturgy and draw attention to the social dimension of the Eucharist.
Vatican Radio’s reporter, Emer McCarthy at the Eucharistic Congress says that some 70.000 people have already registered to attend, excluding the foreign pilgrims who are estimated between 7 and 12 thousand.
She explains that the congress has been in preparation for four years since Pope Benedict XVI announced the venue in Quebec at the last Eucharistic Congress.
She says it is "the first time the congress has seen such a large participation of the laity. It is widely hoped that the congress will constitute an important part of a process of renewal for the Church in Ireland".
Cardinal Ouellet told the Vatican Radio that “A Eucharist Congress is the Universal Church that is uniting in a local Church to turn to God and ask Him for blessings. I am convinced that this will be an extraordinary moment in the Church in Ireland and the starting point of a new path which will be followed also by other initiatives in the wake of this gift of God”.
“Since the last decade has been so difficult in terms of the tragedies, of sexual abuse, of this crisis at the level of society of the economy, there is a real need of reconciliation of forgiveness and new dialogue among all people of Ireland, among the bishops and the laity, among the priests and the religious. There is a need of a new dialogue. We must turn the page on these difficult times – not to forget them, rather to keep them in mind so as not to repeat them – and to ask God, in His loving mercy to renew us”, Cardinal Ouellet added.
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