This is truly an international event. There are groups from as far away as Japan.
The plenary sessions take place in the adjacent Pepsi Coliseum, a former hockey arena that has been transformed into a church in the round, with a circular altar on a raised circular platform. Jumbo screens assure people sitting in the nosebleed sections can see.
When pilgrims register, they are given a back pack that contains the program in three languages, a handbook containing the liturgies for the week, a plastic water bottle, and a radio device for simultaneous translation. The organizers even thought to include some extra batteries. There’s a map of the city showing public transportation routes. It must have taken an army of volunteers to fill these backpacks, never mind the organization for all the events. Everyone from priests, to nuns in their habits, to pilgrims of all ages — an estimated 15 per cent are young people from 18-35 — are easily identifiable pilgrims by the black backpacks slung over their shoulders.
And they are pilgrims, not ordinary conference attendees, pilgrims hoping to draw closer to Christ in the Eucharist. The schedule includes catecheses and talks by witnesses like L’Arche founder Jean Vanier, but opportunities for worship are woven throughout the day, starting with Lauds in the morning, and daily Eucharist.
The grounds also have three chapels for Eucharistic Adoration. Each chapel was inaugurated by a cardinal. When Cardinal Peter Turkson, archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana, processed into the Chapel of the New Covenant accompanying the Ark of the New Covenant, everyone dropped to their knees to revere the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance atop the Ark. This symbolic object had travelled throughout Canada to promote awareness of the congress. It was placed on a platform above a reflecting pool of water bathed in blue light where it will remain for the week.
Cardinal Turskon spoke of how the Ark of the Covenant contained manna, the heavenly bread that came down from heaven when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Manna was “a symbol of God’s powerful presence in the midst of His people,” he said.
“Jesus is the bread of life for us now,” he said.
“As long as we are pilgrims on this earth, we will continue to feed on Jesus as the bread of life,” he said.
Just as the Israelites no longer needed manna once they entered the Promised Land, Cardinal Turkson said “When we see Him face to face, we shall no more need the food of the traveller.”
For more coverage by the Catholic Register on the 49th International Eucharistic Congress see:
Your TV eye on the Eucharistic Congress
Why is it always a United Church?
Where are young priests? Right here
Spending a little quiet time with Jesus