Reflections with Fr Michael Router
Fr Michael Router.
We are now just a little over four months away from the opening ceremony of the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin on June 10. The national organising committee have been working hard over the past four years to prepare for the event and to welcome approximately 15,000 pilgrims from all over the world to our shores. It is hoped that, along with the international pilgrims, many thousands of pilgrims from here in Ireland will attend at least part of what will be a week long celebration of the centrality of the Eucharist in the Christian life.
The overall theme of the Congress is 'The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with One Another'. This theme emphasises the belief that the Eucharist is an encounter between us and Christ in the Word and sacrament and, very importantly, it is an encounter with Christ in the people gathered around us. All our prayers, our ritual actions, our worship of God will be ultimately meaningless unless they are reflected in our dealings with others. Faith that is removed from the messiness of life, or is self centred or self serving bears no fruit and has no future. I am always amazed at the number of people who profess great faith but who recoil from giving the sign of peace to their neighbour. It is after all the most basic and important expression of what we are all about.
Programme of events
Each day of the congress has a particular focus in order to highlight a crucial aspect of the Christian life. The opening ceremony, led by the Papal Legate, will emphasise the importance of gathering. Monday's theme is 'Communion in One Baptism' and will have a strong ecumenical element. Tuesday highlights the importance of marriage and the family and is being given special attention and promotion within this diocese. The theme of Wednesday is 'Priesthood and Ministry in the Service of Communion', Thursday 'Reconciliation in Our Communion', Friday 'Communion in Suffering and Healing' and Saturday 'Communion in the Word through Mary'. The closing ceremony or 'Statio Orbis' will take place on the afternoon of Sunday 17 in Croke Park.
The programme of events begins each morning from Monday to Saturday at 8.30am and continues until 8.30pm. The central focus of each day, however, is in the main arena of the RDS beginning with catechesis at 2pm, testimony at 3pm and a celebration of the Eucharist at 4pm. The Catechesis is a teaching moment, usually presented by a bishop, which reflects on the theme of the day and its challenges, and the testimony involves words of encouragement and inspiration from a lay person with a story of faith to tell.
The full programme for each day is now available at www.iec2012.ie online. A small booklet with the details will be available shortly. Registration to attend the Congress can only be done online at www.iec2012.ie/registration and there are a number of options available. A one-day ticket costs €30 (with concessions), a three-day ticket €60 and a seven day ticket €95. Family tickets are available.
The "Statio Orbis" or closing ceremony of the Congress takes place in Croke Park. The gates open at 12pm, the ceremonies begin at 2pm and end at approximately 5.30pm. Each person who has registered for the seven-day or three-day package will have already been given an option to book a ticket for the Statio Orbis when they registered. About 30,000 tickets have now been made available to the dioceses of Ireland. These tickets are being distributed on the basis of the size of each diocese and as a result Kilmore diocese has been given 432 tickets.
Each parish in the diocese has been allocated between eight and fourteen tickets depending on size. These tickets must be applied for before they are sent out to the applicant. The individual Parish Pastoral Councils will decide how to distribute the application forms which must be returned, to the Pastoral Centre not later than Friday, February 24.
The day chosen as a diocesan day at the Congress is Tuesday, June 12. If there are individuals or groups from the parishes of the Kilmore diocese hoping to organise a visit to the Congress, this is the recommended day. The important thing is that you attend whenever you can during the week.
The Pastoral Preparation for the Congress continues in the diocese and details of the programme for the coming months are now available on the websites of the Kilmore Diocese and the Kilmore Diocesan Pastoral Centre.
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