“The Eucharistic Congress is not just one week in 2028. It starts now.” That was the clear message from a Sydney parish planning workshop for the International Eucharistic Congress. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
More than 150 people from across Sydney – clergy, parish leaders, and parishioners – gathered online to catch the vision for Eucharist28.
As the official journey towards the International Eucharistic Congress 2028 (Eucharist28), to be held in Sydney, has formally begun with the launch of the Eucharist28 website and the rollout of national parish resources across Australia, the February 19 workshop, organised by the Parish Renewal Team within the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation, was simple in structure but big in impact.
Sydney Parish Renewal Team member Tania Rimac described it as “an opportunity for our parishes to come and learn more about the Eucharistic Congress”.
“Our hope is to support parishes to understand how they can live these three years of preparation towards the Eucharistic Congress in their own local parish communities,” Ms Rimac said.
“A majority of those who joined us were from Sydney. However, we were also joined by many from across Australia and even New Zealand.
“We were joined by parish pastoral councils, priests with their teams, and individual parishioners hungry to understand what this congress means for them and their local parish.”
Some parishes who logged in as groups from their parish offices, were encouraged to stay on after the Zoom session ended to discuss what they’d heard and discern what they being called to.
The feedback was clear: “People came with a spirit of openness. A lot of the feedback that we’ve had was that it was very encouraging and people are now raring to go and quite excited,” Ms Rimac said.
The workshop helped people see the Congress in three phases: preparation, the week of the IEC, and the time after.
“It’s not just a moment, it’s not just about the one event,” Ms Rimac said. “It’s a time of walking together in these preparatory years towards the congress so that we gather as a Church in 2028 we will have much to celebrate and share with others and it will bear fruit well into the future.”
FULL STORY
Sydney parishes begin their walk to Eucharist28 (By Darren Ally, The Catholic Weekly)
