Congress rekindles Eucharistic zeal

BY CHRISTINA FARRELL
MORE THAN 850 delegates from across Britain gathered in Birmingham last week for a fourday residential Eucharistic Congress, entitled “Behold the Lamb”.
The inaugural event, which was held at Newman College, Bartley Green, focused on the dioceses of Birmingham, Nottingham and Northampton, but Catholics also came from farther afield to hear keynote speakers that included Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham, Fr John Edwards and Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household. At the opening Mass, Archbishop Nichols told the congregation that the daily celebration of the Mass would be at the heart of the Congress “for the presence of the Lord is the fruit of his sacrifice on Calvary... During Mass we raise again the Lamb of God. We adore again the Lamb of God.” Speaking on Friday, Fr Cantalamessa said John Paul II had instigated the Year of the Eucharist to help rekindle Eucharistic amazement. “In the same way the human body cannot be given to another person without meaning,” he said. “The Eucharist can really give young people a reason to resist the pressures of the body.”