THE
P RTAL
International Eucharistic Congress Supplement
Page i
The 50th International
Eucharistic Congress
Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane attended the week-long
Congress at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) sending back daily
reports which will be found on T he P ortal web site www.portalmag.
co.uk
The International
Eucharistic Congress is held every four years or so. The last one was in
Quebec, Canada; and the next one -
in 2016 - will be in Cebu City in the Overview of pilgrims gathered in Croke Park for Statio Orbis and Mass
Photograph by Des McMahon
Philippines.
In this Special IEC Supplement pages
ii and iii are dedicated to interviews with
some of the wonderful people Jackie
and Ronald met in Dublin. Page iv is
about the remarkable Palestrina Choir,
which was just one of the many choirs to
take part in the Congress. It was hoped
to bring you an Interview with Fr Kevin
Doran the General Secretary of the
Congress, but he did not make himself
available to The Portal for interview.
Each day there were more events than one could
possibly attend. Twenty or thirty Workshops, many
oversubscribed. The authorities had to beg those giving
them to do so twice, or record them for broadcasting
on a giant screen set up for the purpose. In addition
to this, we were treated to daily Catechesis, key note
speakers and a daily Mass on all days bar one.
occasion.
One rather sad fact to report was the way the Irish
Press treated the Congress. Back in 1932 the Congress
had been held in Phoenix Park, Dublin and over one
million people attended the final Mass. God only
knows how many people actually took part in that
Congress. It was the affirmation of a new country just
Each day had its own particular theme, for example ten years old. But the Irish Press in 2012 only wanted
Monday was devoted to ecumenism. At the daily press to talk about one subject, the child abuse scandal. One
conference Ronald asked the Archbishop of Dublin does not wish to minimise the horror and awfulness of
(RC) and the Archbishop of Dublin and Glenda that scandal and the attempted cover-up, but we met
Lough (Anglican) about the general ecumenical many faithful Church people who felt the Press needed
position in Ireland and whether there was interest in to let the Church and her Faithful, not to mention the
the Ordinariate in the island of Ireland. Their reply is victims of that horror, move on.
on The Portal web site in our daily report for Monday
11th June 2012. To say it was disappointing is an
The questions were in polite language, but the content
understatement.
of those questions was hostile. The comparison with
1932 was, of course, always unfavourable. At least one
Other days had their themes: the family; healing; speaker, who had himself been the victim of terrible
forgiveness; priesthood; and Our Lady. At the heart abuse at the hands of British Soldiers during Northern
of each day was the Mass. The RDS has a huge Rugby Ireland’s “troubles” said that victims can be used as a
Union stadium; this became the centre of the Congress club to beat people with. You can read about him in
for the daily Sung Mass. Filled with 12,000 - 15,000 our daily reports too.
people all at Mass together every day. Words cannot
describe it. On the final day, Croke Park which seats
It was a wonderful occasion . . . roll on 2016 and
85,000 was full for the final Mass. A truly inspiring Cebu City in the Philippines.