CEBU CITY—A priest involved in last-minute preparations for what many consider to be the biggest gathering of Catholics this year expressed confidence that the church in Cebu has more than what it takes to host the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) set on Sunday.
“Modesty aside, we are 125-percent ready. We are down to our last 2 percent of things that remain to be done…the nitty gritty,” Msgr. Joseph Tan explained of the IEC committee, less than two days before the event kicks off.
Tan pointed out, however, that a feeling of readiness does not give organizers an excuse to be complacent. He said IEC is to adults what World Youth Day (WYD) is to the younger generation of Catholics.
He said this means it is a rare opportunity for the Visayans to shine as a pilgrim and festival city.
“We hope that we will make a very impressive opening day given the number of people expected to attend although we know there are many who registered for the second half of the congress.
Tan noted that IEC organizers look forward to welcoming members of the international community representing no less than 71 different countries.
“We are excited to listen to our top-caliber speakers.… We invite everyone to enjoy the special cultural devotional events [Cebu has to offer],” he added.
The IEC, the 51st to date and the second to be held in the Philippines, is scheduled from January 24 to 31 in various venues across Metro Cebu, the “birthplace of Christianity in the country.”
The delegates of IEC will feel God’s presence in the midst, as the angelic voices of some 60 gifted high-school and college students from Calbayog City, Samar, who will translate into music the theme of the event —“Christ in You, our hope of glory” taken from the Scripture of Colosians 1:27— at the opening Mass on Sunday. Around 12,000 are expected to attend the IEC. From 8,500 last month, over 3,000 people beat the registration deadline on January 20 for the event.
Organizers also said that at least 13 percent of the registrants are foreigners from 71 countries.
Serving as an underpinning for the IEC, a theological symposium started on Wednesday at the Cebu Doctors’ University, with speakers chosen from a pool of renowned theologians and educators.
The topics have been chosen for their relevance to the theme of the IEC which is threefold: the centrality of the Eucharist in Christian life, the liturgical celebration and the social dimension of the Eucharist.
The symposium would also give a glimpse of the current issues, problems and challenges regarding this sacrament in the different places and cultures of the world.
Workshops will also be held to come up with pastoral plans, strategies and programs.
Among the topics taken up were about “Christian virtue of hope” by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe and an exegetical discussion of a passage from the Gospel of Saint John about the Eucharist by Fr. Francis Maloney. Radcliffe is an English Dominican who formerly served as Master of the Congregation, while Moloney is an Australian Salesian priest who is an author and editor of a number of theological articles and journals.
On Thursday, Fr. Mark Francis, president of Catholic Theological University in Chicago, talked about the delicate topic of “liturgy and inculturation.” Also scheduled to speak is Italian Bishop Piero Marini, the president of the Pontifical Committee for the IEC, who will talk about the history of the “Novus Ordo,” which refers to the Mass introduced by Pope Paul VI after Vatican II. Bishop Marini has also served as the papal master of ceremonies for 20 years. On Friday, the last day of the precongress event, Fr. Thomas Rosica, a famed columnist who also heads a Catholic media network, spoke about “Evangelizing the secular world.”
Dr. Josefina Manabat, the dean of the graduate school of liturgy of San Beda College, Manila, and the lone Filipino and woman speaker, will talk on the “Catechesis on the Sunday Eucharist.”
Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Villarojo, secretary-general of the IEC local organizing committee, said that, while “the symposium is academic and theological, the congress is more pastoral.”
He also said that the congress is designed to be “deep enough for an elephant to swim in but shallow enough for children to be in.”
Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco and CBCP
Image credits: Ador Vincent S. Mayol/CBCP