IEC2012: 2,000 volunteers commissioned
“I just felt this is what Ireland needs and what I had to do. It was the intervention
of the Lord I think, as he has always done throughout history, when the Church is
in trouble we need something to bring us back”, says Julia Vaughan, one of the 2 thousand
volunteers who have answered the call to give of themselves and their time to help
the smooth running of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress (IEC2012),
that will be held in Dublin, Ireland from June 10th to 17th
next. Listen to her interview with Emer McCarthy: 
On Holy Thursday, IEC2012 launched the programme for the ‘Day of Ministry in the Service of Communion’ with a special commissioning ceremony, in the Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, for the IEC2012 volunteers who will be of service before, during and after the Congress.
During the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, which marks the Institution of the Eucharist, on the first Holy Thursday, Auxiliary Bishop Éamonn Walsh of Dublin washed the feet of twelve IEC2012 volunteers representing the 2,000 helpers for the Congress.
But who are the volunteers? Many of us may think it’s a young persons’ job but the IEC2012 volunteers are drawn from across the generations of Irish Catholics and from all walks of Irish life: “I was at one of the training sessions recently and I met two gentlemen, one who was 1 year old at the last Congress [1932 – ed] and the other who was 4 years old. I marvelled that they were prepared to be present for the 5 days of the Congress. When I asked them would they be able for the Congress they replied ‘yes certainly we will’, that may give you some idea of the determination, strength of purpose that God in our lives can engender”.
The theme of ‘Priesthood and Ministry in the Service of Communion’, will also be the focus of the main programme of the Eucharistic Congress on Wednesday 13 June 2012, the feast day of St Anthony of Padua. The keynote address on this theme will be delivered by the Archbishop of Vancouver, Canada, Most Rev. J Michael Miller. This will be followed by a personal testimony on ministry by Mrs Noreen Carroll, Foxrock parish, Dublin, and a personal testimony on religious life by Sr Conchita McDonnell, President of CORI.
As part of the week-long programme of workshops, talks and cultural events, on Wednesday 13 June, Dr Anne Codd and Ms Julieann Moran of the Council for Pastoral Renewal and Adult Faith Development, will deliver a group reflection entitled, ‘Communion and co-responsibility coming to life in pastoral practice’.
On Wednesday 13 June there will also be a talk entitled, ‘Catholics! Why we do what we do?’ will be delivered by Fr John Cusack, of the Archdiocese of Chicago, USA. A wide range of other workshops exploring various forms of ministry and service, lay and ordained, will be offered as part of the programme on Wednesday 13 June and Mass in the RDS main arena will be celebrated by Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez-Maradiaga on this day.
The themed day of service on Wednesday 13 June will conclude with an historic Eucharistic Procession throughout the streets surrounding the RDS campus at 7.30pm. The procession will be led by the Papal Legate; Pope Benedict’s representative at the Eucharistic Congress.
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