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THE PoRTAL
The International Eucharistic Congress
Day 1 - Sunday 10th June 2012
Ju
I °'h· 17th
THIS SOTH Euchari
tic Congre i an important event in the life of the Church for a number of
reasons. First of all much has happened to the Church si11ce the last Eucharistic Congress held in Quebec in
2008. , econd: the abuse scandaJ ha. hit tht:' Irish Church very hard. Indeed the Pres. Conference held on the
fir t day of tlli Congress wa dominated by the i ue of Child Abuse a far as the Irish Media were concerned.
Much of the questioning was hostile in content, if not in delivery.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate ofln:land, answered all the quc tioru aboul
thi is ue with caring firmness and hon st frankne s. He even quoted ur Lord's remark about hildren being
allowed to ome to Him linking this with that other - le s weU quoted - te .. t about what will happen to those
who lead the little one astray. Neverthele .. s, some of the que tion put at the Pre
onference were a bit like
s ·ratching the s ab from a healing ·ut and preventing the healing pro ess taking pla e.
Child abuse i. awful. The s and al of abu, e and the sub. cqucnt cover-up in omc part. of the Chur ·h is doubl}'
candalou . rn Ireland this ubject ha reached mammoth proportions. ~iluch of the protests are about other
issues that have been attached to the Child Abu e issue. For e.xa.mpJe there wa 3 protest outside the Conference
venue Loday. ne prote kr wa. arrying a pla ·ard ann uncing thal "Bi hop should be in Chur he nol on
hool Boards ': slogan th at misunderstands both s ·hools and Holy Order.
At the Press Conferen e there were questions about E umenism and Youti1 Matters, but each time the subje t
w1der di. ussion returned Lo Child Abu, e. r ·hbi. hop Marlin did very well to an, wer with , u h ·andc>ur.
lhe pening Wor hip wa a ung Ma for orpu
hri ti, held in the tadium al the RO in Dublin.
TI10usa11ds were in their seats over an hour prior to the start.
The ubje l of Child Abu c wa. high on the agenda here Loo, but in a more po. ilive light, with penilcnliaJ
prayers asking forgiveness for "what we have don " as well as prayer for the vi lirns of abuse.
Each Provin e of the Irish Church was represented ~tnd flags a11d banners were ;:irried as ea h was introdu ed
with word , . ong and applause. Mu, i wa provided b}' man}' choir.