The Portal Archive Eucharistic Congress 2012 | Page 7

THE PoRTAL is the monthly review of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
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The International Eucharistic Congress
Day 3 - Tuesday 12th June 2012
Ju
I 0th· I 7th
"COMMUNION IN
Marriage and Family" was the theme for thi , the third day of the Eucharistic
Congress. We were treated to five excellent addresses.
ONE
The first ame at Morning P rayer from Cardinal Keith Patri ·k
Edinburgh, otland; and wa tyled a "meditation".
'Brian, Ar ·hbishop of aint Andrews and
Basing his r marks on Colo sians 3: 12-15 and A ts 2:42, the Cardinal drew out his thought into three sections.
The first was: ur welcome into the family of the Church. Here Cardinal ' Brian stressed the importan e of
Rap ti m and quoted Ble ed John Paul JI when he wa a ked about the most important moment in his Hfe,
replied to the effe t that it was when he wa brought to a little village ·hur h by his parent for bapti m. Here he
be ame one of the " ho en of God".
·1 he econd: Our welcome into our human family provided ardinal ()' Brian wilh the opportunit y to bring to
the fore "The union dedi ·ated in the Sa rament of Matrimony'. He pointed out that it i within Ute fiuniJy ·ir le
that we learn to peak to one another as wdl as to God.
'l he third: ur entry into the whole human race enabled him to place hi remark in the on text of the whole
of so ·iery- neighbours, work olleagues and those with whon1 we find re ·rcation. Cardinal 'Brian 011 luded
thi. e tion by q uoling Pope Bcnedi l XVI when in the UK, and . peaking in "\/'le tminster llall,. trcs.~ed "Religion
is not a problem for legislators to soh•e, but a vital contributor to the national ·onversation. In this light, I cannot
but voice my oncern at the increas ing marginalisation at religion, particuhtrly of Christianity, that is takillg
pla e in ome quarter , even in the nation which pla e a great emp ha i on toleran e:·
TWO
Ea h day at the IEC we have a period of Cateche is. Today this was provided by
Ar ·hbL hop Barry Jmne Ilickcy (right) Emeritu Ar ·hbi. hop of Perth, We tern
Au tralia. He de ribed him elf a "an ob...,cure Ar hbi hop who come from the
relatively obscure Archdio ·ese of Perth in \Vestern Australia.·
IIL wa. a truly thought provoking contribution. Ile poke of the Eucharist as the
b>ift of pea e; of the link bet\•leen o d's Divine ommunion with hi people and
the ovenant communion of marriage and family life· of a Catholic Church wider
alla ·k partly be au c of Lhc in of . omc of her leaders and partl)' be ausc of her
uncompromising teachings. He dwelt on the beauty of the Catholi Faith and the
great gift to the world that is marriage. He fa ·ed the difficulties of broken relationships and wlloved children
and the hur h's desire to rea h out to them all.
Archbishop l i ·key based his remarks on a biblical vision of marriage, parti ularly Ephesians 5 and Paul's
remark. about lhc relationship belwt!<:n hu. band and wife bting an image of Chri. l and Ili. Church.
Vile were treated to an appreciation of Koinonia and the hori1.0nt.-il union among the baptized. His ra e drew
our attention to the fa t that the love between God and the Chur h i indi soluble and therefore marriage m ust
be too. I Tc ontinuaUy ·ailed u. all t a higher vi. ion and lo . ec in Lhc Euchari. l a our e of. trength and gra c.
nafraid; he repeated the lea hing of the hurch on contraception and warned us to expect to be ignored
and ridi uled for holding fa t to that teaching. He warned also of compromi e and the dan ger of irrelevance for
a hurch that failed in Lhis regard. Warming lo hi~ theme he re ·ountcd a li t of moral "horror," unfortunately
common in the modern world and pointed out the harm many do to the lives on children. He wa unequivocal
in declaring that "Marriage has no satisfa tory alternatives·:
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