The International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin is in its fourth day, and reconciliation
topped the agenda. The Eucharist is the instrument of unity in the Church, and its
role on healing divisions was the topic of discussion.
Emer McCarthy filed
this report from Dublin:
How
can you forgive someone who has murdered your entire family in cold blood while they
sought sanctuary in a Church? How can you forgive someone who shot you when you were
a 10 year old boy in the school playground blinding you for life? How can you forgive
deliberate abuse, lies, hurt, betrayal. How can you heal broken lives, families and
communities? This Thursday in Dublin a line was drawn in the sand as the theme
for the fourth day of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress focused
on Reconciliation in our Communion. The day began with a liturgy of reconciliation
presided by Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, President of the Pontifical Council for
Justice and Peace. He told the story of Sr. Geneviève, from the community of St.
Mary of Namur. How she found the strength to forgive the Hutu soldier - a former
childhood friend - who murdered her family during that nations horrific genocide of
1994. Of she found inner peace. Victims of war, violence and hatred, from Rwanda,
Northern Ireland, Central America, the DRC and the Middle East took centre stage in
the RDS arena to share with participants their journey towards forgiveness and reconciliation
–some even with the perpetrators of their abuse. Because as one of the key-note speakers
today put it, “I was already a victim of hatred and war, I did not want to become
a victim to anger too”. As the queues that have begun to characterise this global
Church gathering began to form beneath ominous skies, the words of Fr. Timothy Radcliff
OP on the spirituality of suffering and of healing floated above the crowd from the
hastily erected giant screens. These have become necessary to contain the anger of
the hundreds who have not been able to find space in the halls for catechesis. The
Dominican preacher is just one of the speakers who has been forced to replicate his
talks a total of four times. This is just one example of the hunger here in Ireland
to learn, to heal and to be reconciled in communion.