Scottish Catholic Observer

It was indeed with great joy that tens of thousands of pilgrims travelled to Ireland from all over the world in mid-June to take part in the 50th International Eucharistic Congress. The invitation to such a Congress initially came from Pope Benedict XVI—but was re-echoed in the words of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, in whose archdiocese the Eucharistic Congress was to take place. He spoke in the name of Cardinal Brady and all of the Bishops of Ireland when he indicated in an early letter: “It is with great joy that I welcome you to this 50th International Eucharistic Congress, coming as you do from every corner of Ireland and from every corner of the world. By your very presence here, you express the unity and diversity of the Church’s Communion.”

The theme of the week’s congress was The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one another, and each pilgrim to the congress seemed to live out their communion with Christ and with one another in a unique way.

I myself was aware of the ‘Spirit’ moving throughout the week and I outline in my own impressions the spirit of joy in the Catholic Christian faith; the spirit of reconciliation; and then a very great spirit of mission!

Spirit of joy in the Faith

We were indeed welcomed back to Ireland to join the faithful people of that country, priests, religious and people, in what was indeed a unique celebration of our communion with Christ and with one another.

One might ask what other Church, what other nation would have dared to celebrate such a week with so many other difficulties in their country and in their Church in recent months and years. However the Irish people are indeed a people of faith and a wonderful welcome was extended by the native Irish people to those who wished to come and join them from those four corners of the earth. Many people with whom I met were flocking back to an Ireland of which they had heard from their parents and grandparents or even further back into a misty history. Others who were a joy to meet were returning missionaries, male, female and lay, literally from every country in the world—coming back again to thank God for this land of their faith which had inspired them to carry the Gospels to the ends of the earth.

I myself was aware of this outstanding missionary link because of my own pastoral visits to missionary countries linked with our own country of Scotland especially Bauchi in Northern Nigeria and El Salvador in Central America. But every returning missionary I met had their own story to tell of how they had and were continuing to spread the Gospel as initially called by Jesus Christ. Perhaps I had an almost unique meeting when guest of honour at a concert marking the Eucharistic Congress in the Church of the Miraculous Medal in Clonskeagh Parish in Dublin itself. Standing at the back of the church welcoming the guests a man in clerical collar spoke to me and said: “Do you remember the last time we met?” He was Archbishop Adrian Smith from the Solomon Islands and the last time we had met was on the Feast of Ss Peter and Paul 1985 when we were receiving the Pallium from Pope John Paul II at the beginning of our own different apostolic ministries. We were two among 12 new ‘Apostles’ who at the end of the Papal celebration in St Peter’s Basilica, withdrew to the crypt to kneel in front of the relics of St Peter and to be told by the Pope: “Go and teach all nations!”  I have been doing that for the past 27 years in Scotland, while Archbishop Smith had been labouring in the Solomon Islands—and had with him as his co-labourer in the faith in the Archdiocese Bishop John, a native of the Solomon Islands, now the Auxiliary Bishop and one of the candidates to succeed Archbishop Smith in the Solomon Islands.

It was indeed a different Ireland from 1932 when the previous Eucharistic Congress had taken place in Ireland —but all those who gathered this year in Dublin in prayer and in song, in penance and in prayer were determined to celebrate with joy the faith which had been handed on to them and that faith which they had spread throughout most of the known world as indeed it had initially been spread by the Apostles following on the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord into Heaven.

Spirit of joy reconciliation

It would be wrong to indicate that the people of Ireland, the people of the congress, had forgotten the sins of the past. Obviously many sins had been perpetrated against the Irish people over the centuries who have preserved their Faith ‘in spite of dungeon, fire and sword!’  We thought back to the penal times, the persecution of priests and people for the practice of their faith, the era of the Mass Rocks and worship in secret. But there had been sins within the family of the Church in more recent times; and the Church was determined that nothing was to be hidden.

It was at the very beginning of the very first gathering in the great arena of the Royal Dublin Society showground that a ‘healing stone’ was unveiled in acknowledgement of previous abuse of children and vulnerable adults that had taken place in the country. The rock comprised a large shaped piece of Wicklow granite engraved with a prayer that originally featured in the Liturgy of Lament celebrated in Dublin’s Pro Cathedral in February of last year.

The prayer read: “Lord, we are so sorry for what some of us did to your children: treated them so cruelly, especially, in their hour of need. We have left them with a life long suffering. This was not your plan for them or us. Please help us to help them. Guide us, Lord, Amen,”

Following consultation, including that with abuse survivors, it was agreed that the stone would be an appropriate symbol for the Congress. Father Kevin Doran, the Secretary General of the Congress, had said previously: “The stone represents the firm determination to work for healing and renewal.”

A further reminder of healing and reconciliation took place early the next day when Archbishop Diarmuid indicated that Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Papal Legate at the International Congress, was not able to be present that day nor indeed overnight or the next day. Along with Archbishop Charles Brown, the Apostolic Nuncio, the Papal Legate was on pilgrimage to Lough Derg, which had been and is a place of penance for the peoples of Ireland for almost 1500 years. Cardinal Ouellet celebrated Mass on the island with a small number of pilgrims saying in his sermon: “Pope Benedict XVI asked me, as his Legate to the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, that I would come to Lough Derg and ask God’s forgiveness for the times clerics have sexually abused children, not only in Ireland, but anywhere in the Church,” and he continued: “I come here with the specific intention of seeking forgiveness from God and from the victims, for the grave sin of sexual abuse of children by clerics.” After the Homily, prayers of intercession were offered for the Church, for survivors of abuse and for ‘the inadequate response often given by Church leaders.’

Then there followed on the next day the Thursday of the congress a reconciliation day for all of the pilgrims when in the morning in the great arena a liturgy of reconciliation was led by Cardinal Turkson, the President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; various workshops on healing and reconciliation took place throughout the day; and in the afternoon there was catechises on reconciliation led by Cardinal Monsengwo Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Mr Richard Moore, Founder of Children in Crossfire, who was blinded in 1972 while aged ten on his way home from school being hit by a rubber bullet fired at point blank range in to his face in Derry, Ireland. In 2006 Richard went on to complete his schooling and to graduate from the University of Ulster – and then searched for and met the soldier who had blinded him, initially telling him that he had forgiven the soldier and held no hatred from him. Mass that afternoon was celebrated by Cardinal Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland in the native Irish language.

Spirit of mission

Throughout my week at the congress, I was aware of a new ‘spirit of mission’ within the Catholic Church in Ireland.

First of all I would say that the members of the Church were revitalised in themselves—by the way in which they were living in their parishes and in their dioceses with their time at the Eucharistic Congress being a wonderful way of expressing their new sense of mission. Obviously I was not able to visit many parishes within the area of Dublin—but in one way or another they each welcomed guests from the congress and delighted in showing something of the way in which they were living as Catholic Christian communities at this present time. That was evident to me in that parish of the Miraculous Medal, which I visited in the Clonskeagh area of Dublin—that reflected everything I knew of ‘best practice’ in being a Catholic Parish at this present time.

One might say that during the reconciliation day on the Monday of the congress again everything possible was accomplished by the congress which explored and celebrated our communion through Baptism. Morning Masses were celebrated at the same time (9.30 am) throughout the city of Dublin that day and in every language known to man, from English to Ethiopian, from Latin to Latvian.

Everyone came together for a great ecumenical liturgy of word and water in the afternoon led by the Anglican Archbishop of Dublin and Glendalough, Archbishop Michael Jackson, with the liturgy being shared with Bishop Brian Farrell from the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity in Rome and Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, the Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop of Volokolamsk.

Water was blessed during the solemn liturgy and then sprinkled upon the thousands of people gathered there as a symbol of their common baptism and their shared faith in Jesus Christ.

Further, one might say that if the Church was revitalised within itself and also revitalised with regard to its relationship with other Christian churches and peoples of other faiths it was also revitalised in the way in which it was responding to overtures from civil society itself.  Links of course with the Armed Forces were shown in wonderful displays concerning chaplaincy service; and near the end of the congress there was a magnificent Reception celebrated in the State Apartments of Dublin Castle for representatives from the congress and hosted by the Taoiseach Mr Enda Kenny TD, and the Tanaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr Eamon Gilmore TD.

Obviously there are still many basic differences and policy between Church and State in Ireland as indeed in other countries throughout the world. I myself emphasised this in my own words when I was leading morning prayer on the Tuesday morning of the congress and reminding peoples in the congregation of those words of Pope Benedict when speaking in Westminster Hall, London some 18 months ago and stressing: “Religion is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a vital contributor to the national conversation. In this light, I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalisation of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in the nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance.”

Scotland and closing Mass

Scotland was well represented at the congress by our Bishops: Archbishop Mario Conti, Bishop Philip Tartaglia and Bishop Joseph Toal, along with myself and a great cross-section of priests, religious and people.  A very warm welcome was extended to Bishop Stephen Robson on his arrival at the congress with a coachload of Scottish pilgrims just a few days after his ordination as bishop.

In addition to their presence at the main congress events, the Scottish bishops and pilgrims were given a special welcome at the Saturday evening Mass in the Church of the Miraculous Medal, which had been designated as the ‘Scottish Church’ for the period of the congress.

On the final day, I myself was asked to be one of the principal concelebrants at the final Mass, Statio Orbis, along with the Papal Legate, Cardinal Ouellet.  It gave us much joy to celebrate this Mass, as well as to listen, along with the congregation of approximately 80,000, to the words of Pope Benedict relayed from the Vatican.

The Holy Father told the people of Ireland:  “Your forebears in the Church in Ireland knew how to strive for holiness and constancy in their personal lives, how to preach the joy that comes from the Gospel, how to promote the importance of belonging to the Universal Church in communion with the See of Peter, and how to pass on the love of the Faith and Christian virtue to other generations.”It was indeed the prayer of all at the congress, that the ‘faith and Christian virtue’ of the people of Ireland would indeed continue strong now and for those generations to come.