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	Countdown to International Eucharistic Congress Underway Vatican Radio June 3, 2011 http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=492725 [Archbishop Martin's address to congress delegates] Listen to Emer McCarthy's report:MP3 Registration to attend the 50th International Eucharistic Congress next year in Dublin Ireland is now open. The organising committee for the IEC2012 is currently hosting delegates from over 70 national Churches for a special preparatory meeting ahead of the event, who were addressed yesterday by Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. “The renewal of the Irish Church is above all the responsibility of the Irish Church” and the coming five years will be “among the most critical in the history of recent Irish Catholicism”, but the presence of pilgrims from all around the world will be “an enormous encouragement” to Irish Catholics in their efforts of renewal. This was the message that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin brought to international delegates to the Pontifical Commission for International Eucharistic Congresses from over 70 countries who gathered in the Irish capital from June 1 to 3. The Archbishop painted a bleak but realistic picture of the current state of the Catholic Church in Dublin for participants in his address Thursday morning in the former missionary college of All Hallows. A city and archdiocese that is scheduled to host the 50th International Eucharistic Congress one year from now. Archbishop Martin said he feared secularisation in Ireland is far more advanced than most would prefer to believe and he quoted some thought-provoking statistics. “Many outside of Ireland still believe that Ireland is a bastion of traditional Catholicism”, he said, “they are surprised to discover that there are parishes in Dublin where the presence at Sunday Mass is some 5% of the Catholic population and, in some cases, even below 2%. On any particular Sunday about 18% of the Catholic population in the Archdiocese of Dublin attends Mass”. Archbishop Martin conceded that while Sunday Mass attendance is not the only statistic to indicate “an affiliation with the Church”, it is “hardly possible to remain truly a Christian if one has no contact over years with the Eucharist”. He spoke of his greatest concern: "the rift between the Church and young people” and the dangers of reducing the sacraments to a “social occasion”. The Primate of Ireland described what is happening in Ireland as “painful”, not only the “horrors of abuse”, but the “failure in passing on the faith to the coming generation”. This, he concluded, “is why the Eucharistic Congress can offer an important contribution in the path of renewal”. In the midst of so many negative factors, he said, the Irish Church must not lose sight of the signs of the grace of God. Archbishop Martin spoke of the support he has received from Pope Benedict XVI as he tries to lead a Church, wounded by the scandal of abuse, which must regenerate in a changed society. And he spoke of his impatience to learn about the path that the apostolic visitation will set out so renewal can begin decisively. Delegates were also addressed by Italian Archbishop Piero Marini, President of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, who emphasized the need for Eucharistic theology to be translated into action. He spoke of the universal dimension of the statio orbis - the closing Eucharist of the international congress to be held in Dublin’s iconic Croke Park stadium - describing it as a powerful sign of the universal Church’s communion with the Irish Church. On Wednesday delegates were also treated to a special Mass celebrated in Dublin’s University Church founded by Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman. Under the gaze of marble a bust of the master educator and man of prayer whose motto was ‘heart speaks unto heart’, the men and women drawn from Africa, Asia, America and beyond prayed for the Church in Ireland. The 50th International Eucharistic Congress runs from June 10 to 17, 2012 in Dublin, Ireland. Registration is now open. Information is available on: www.iec2012.ie
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