As you read this blog, I will be on my way to Ireland to serve as the National Delegate from the United States bishops’ conference to the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Ireland. In this case, the event is to be held in Dublin, my home town. The Congress has created much excitement in Ireland that has not hosted a Eucharistic Congress since 1932,
Pope Leo XIII, who erected the Diocese of Dallas, convoked the First International Eucharistic Congress in 1881 at Lille, France for the purpose of, “making our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar ever better known, loved and served… and of working to extend his social reign in the world.” Thus Congresses have the twofold dimension of Eucharistic Piety and the social aspect of the Eucharist. Early International Congresses were held in Europe until 1893 when a Congress was held in Jerusalem. Since that time Congresses have been held in Asia, Oceania, North America and Latin America.
Two International Eucharistic Congresses have been held in the United States; in Chicago in 1926 and in Philadelphia in 1976. National Eucharistic Congresses have been held in other American cities including New Orleans, New York and Cleveland.
An important aspect of the Congresses is to stimulate the faith of Catholics in the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Eucharist, a foundational dogma of the Church, and promote devotion to the Eucharist outside of the Mass. Eucharistic devotion calls us not only to a moral and interior transformation, but also to a social and cultural one. Celebration of the Eucharistic Mystery commits us to work for justice and the transformation of the world in the face of the ever more numerous victims of injustice and oppression.
Recently, a pastoral dimension has been added to the original twofold dimensions of the Eucharistic Congresses. Devotion to the Eucharist is the principle which inspires pastoral action and the new evangelization. Such devotion should inspire bishops, priests, deacons, catechists and other pastoral workers to teach a Eucharistic catechesis that promotes a Christian life of service, sharing and solidarity, especially with the poor.
This post is also available in/Esta entrada también está disponible en: Spanish