Diocesan pilgrims prepare for journey to eucharistic congress

By Sharon Roulier
and Catholic News Service

SPRINGFIELD – Pilgrims from the Diocese of Springfield gathered April 24 in the Holy Spirit Chapel adjacent to St. Michael’s Cathedral to prepare for their trip to the 49th Annual International Eucharistic Congress to be celebrated next month in Quebec City, Canada.

Those planning to attend the congress were led in prayer by Msgr. Leo A. Leclerc, vicar general of the Diocese of Springfield and director of this year’s pilgrimage. He said the congress offers an opportunity to deepen one’s devotion to the Eucharist, learn more about it and to celebrate it.

This year’s theme is, “The Eucharist: God’s Gift for the Life of the World.”
“That really is the central teaching and the core of what we believe, that the Eucharist is gift,” said Msgr. Leclerc. “We can do nothing to deserve it, nothing to earn it. It’s a gift. All we can do is accept it and to rejoice in it.”

The June 15-22 event coincides with the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City. Nearly 10,000 people have registered so far; they include about 600 from the United States.

“People are coming to the site from all over the world,” said Msgr. Leclerc, who noted that the pope has usually been present at past congresses.

“In this case he will not be there,” said Msgr. Leclerc. “However, I think his recent visit to the United States was certainly a boost in the arm for most of us.”

Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to give the homily for the closing Mass via satellite from Rome.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec, president of the planning committee for the congress, made the announcement at a news conference April 24 in Quebec. Speaking in French, the cardinal invited everyone to attend the outdoor event, which will be held on the historic Plains of Abraham, the site of a decisive battle in 1759 between British and French troops that led to the fall of Quebec.

Congress organizers hope that up to 50,000 people will attend the June 22 Mass in which the pope’s homily will be transmitted in real time to giant screens.

Officials also announced that the location for the closing Mass, known as the “Statio Orbis,” had been moved from the originally selected site near the Quebec Citadel, a military fortification built in the early 1800s.

Instead, it will be held farther west on the battlefield in an area where the first national eucharistic congress was held 70 years ago. The field is used for various sporting, community and recreational events.

A stone monument on the field commemorating the Canadian Eucharistic Congress bears a bronze plaque with the inscription in French and English that says: “The First National Eucharistic Congress was duly solemnized on these historic plains in June 1938 when the descendants of ancestral foes met as fraternal friends.”

The Vatican announced that the pope had appointed Slovakian Cardinal Josef Tomko to be his representative at the gathering, which will include the closing Mass, speeches and workshops on different themes related to the Eucharist, opportunities for eucharistic adoration and other Masses.

The Diocese of Springfield still has some spaces available on the bus. For more information, contact Sister of St. Joseph Beverly Rochford at 413-452-0694.