The bishops want to encourage the great revival of Eucharistic Adoration in our parishes
This weekend somewhere in the region of 10,000 pilgrims from all parts of England and Wales will converge on Liverpool to celebrate our faith in the Eucharist at the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage and Congress. The title of the congress, Adoremus, denotes the emphasis it is placing on the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
Eucharistic congresses have been a part of the life of the Catholic Church since the 19th century. The last was in Cebu in the Philippines in 2016 and the next will be in Budapest in 2020. The Holy Father asks that between the international congresses individual nations have a national event to enrich the spiritual life of the local churches.
It is the first time that such a gathering has taken place in England and Wales since 1908. In those days the government was nervous of an anti-Catholic backlash and forbade a procession for fear of public disorder. We now live in a more ecumenical age and the Blessed Sacrament procession which forms an essential part of the congress will be held this Sunday – and it will be joined by many other Christian leaders from the Liverpool area.
In common with similar congresses throughout the world, the weekend will be one of joy and celebration. There will be workshops and talks, testimonies and dramas and, of course, a period of Eucharistic Adoration led by Cardinal Nichols. Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles will give two keynote addresses on Saturday which is the day of the plenary session to be held in the Echo Arena. Liverpool archdiocese has also generously organised a parallel programme of various activities in and around the city.
These range from an experience of Lectio Divina to concerts of sacred music and a session of Nightfever in the city’s Blessed Sacrament shrine. There will be organised walking tours, an opportunity to engage with Cafod and an opportunity to “Meet a missionary”, as well as a number of fringe events.
The bishops have chosen the theme of Eucharistic Adoration to encourage what is again becoming a normal part of devotional life in our parishes. Adoration of the Eucharist outside Mass is a means by which we affirm and strengthen our faith so that our participation in the Eucharist becomes more profound. This leads us to become missionary disciples with a practical concern for the needs of our brothers and sisters.
Pope Francis is constantly reminding us to be “missionary disciples” and to go to the margins to bring others to Christ. Adoremus is an opportunity for us to do this. We cannot be missionary disciples until we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is above all in the Eucharist, the source and summit of our life with Christ and the Church, that we gain strength and courage to go to the margins of our society.
To be a missionary disciple comes from a profound knowledge that we are loved by God, and the Eucharist is the place where we encounter that love in a sacramental form. We also come in a spirit of penitence for our lack of faith and love, and as a nation we can turn to the Lord afresh in sorrow for all our failings.
We also hope that this weekend is an opportunity to show our nations the joy and unity which faith brings.
What of the legacy of Adoremus? Quite naturally we ask ourselves what will happen next. The older generation will remember the National Pastoral Congress which was held in Liverpool in 1980, nearly 40 years ago. That was a time of great optimism for the Church and the delegates proclaimed themselves as the “Easter people”. Perhaps our 21st-century aims will be more modest but nonetheless real, and attainable if we also proclaim ourselves a “Eucharistic people”.
We hope that delegates will return home with a renewed faith, ready to share their experience with their communities. It would be good to see delegates feeding back their reflections on Adoremus not only at a parish level but also in their dioceses. The Friday workshops will cover many aspects of the Church’s life and mission such as catechetics, social outreach, liturgy and ecumenism. We hope that delegates will gain new insights and a refreshed vision of what it is to be a Christian in 2018 and beyond.
A renewed faith and love in the Eucharistic presence of the Lord leads to a renewed Church. We hope above all that Adoremus will lead the people of England and Wales further along that road of renewal.
The Rt Rev Robert Byrne Cong. Orat. is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Birmingham and the coordinator of Adoremus
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