AN ESTIMATED 12,500 pilgrims from 120 countries attended the opening ceremony and Mass at the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin’s RDS yesterday. Chief celebrant was the papal legate, Cardinal Marc Ouellet.
Concelebrants included Congress president Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, president of the Vatican’s committee for Eucharistic Congresses Archbishop Piero Marini, the Catholic Primate Cardinal Sean Brady, the Archbishop of Toulouse Robert LeGall, the Archbishop of Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins, the Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the Vatican’s Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, former archbishop of Baltimore in the US.
In his homily, Cardinal Ouellet prayed the congress would “bring a special blessing to Ireland at this turbulent time . . .”
He noted how “the church in Ireland is suffering and faces many new and serious challenges of the faith”.
He continued that “well aware of these challenges, we turn together to Our Lord, who renews, heals and strengthens the faith of His people”.
Ireland’s “strong history of faithfulness has enriched not only these shores, but has, through her missionary sons and daughters, helped to bring the gospel to many far-distant shores”, he said.
He knew from his own experience of the last Eucharistic Congress in Quebec city [he was archbishop of Quebec] “that an event such as this brings many blessings to the local church and to all the participants”.
In introductory remarks, Dr Martin said: “Today the church in Ireland rejoices. It rejoices not in triumphalism or external festivities.
“It rejoices in the gift of this Eucharistic Congress which has been attentively prepared throughout the length and breath of Ireland . . .”
The church in Ireland, he said, “rejoices today in the presence of pilgrims from many parts of the world who witness to the universality of our Catholic faith and who show their faith-filled fellowship and solidarity with the church in Ireland”.
The church was “on the path to renewal. The 50 years since the second Vatican Council have brought many graces to the church in Ireland”, but, he added, “Those 50 years have also been marked with a darker side, of sinful and criminal abuse and neglect of those weakest in our society: children, who should have been the object of the greatest care and support and Christ-like love.
“We recall all those who suffered abuse and who still today bear the mark of that abuse and may well carry it with them for the rest of their lives.
“In a spirit of repentance, let us remember each of them in the silence of our hearts.”