Take part in Congress from afar, says Bishop

Bishop Thomas Holland of Salford, the official delegate from England and Wales to the International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia next month, invited the people of Salford diocese to "take part from afar" in the Congress and suggested two ways in which they could do so.
Bishop Holland who was chosen to lead the English pilgrimage by the Bishops' Conference in April, suggested that everyone should pray for inure priests and points out that without the priesthood there would be no Eucharist."
The Bishop also says that the Congress should be a turning point for people and urges them to "get rid of all bitterness arid to build up the spirit of family among us." Philadelphia means 'city of brotherly love' says Bishop Holland "How much we need that spirit of brotherly love in these days." In his pastoral letter Bishop Holland invites people in Salford who have relatives in Philadelphia to write iv them and ask them to get in touch with him while he is there.
Bishop Holland, who is 68, also led the British delegation to the last Euchitristic Congress in Melbourne, Australia four years ago.
It was announced in Rome last week that Pope Paul will not be attending the Eucharistic Congress.
The printed programme for the 41st Congress looks like a lengthy menu and gives a sumptuous spread of names, events and celebrations for the week. Twenty-seven nations are celebrating their own cultural heritages with special masses and conferences and some with music, dancing and art exhibitions. Among the communities represented are Native Americans, Blacks, Vietnamese, Chinese and a number of Eastern European groups in
eluding Lithuanians, Ruthenians, Slovenians and Romanians. The Uniate Churches are also represented and the Vatican has expressed a wish that the Ukranian groups will not use the opportunity as a political platform for agitating for a Patriarchate. Each day the Congress has a separate theme beginning with 'The Eucharist and the Hunger
for . . On the first day, Sunday, August I it is 'The Eucharist and the Hunger for God', the second, for Bread, the third for Freedom and Justice and so on; the Spirit Truth, Understanding, Peace, and on the final day, August 8 the themes will culminate with 'The Eucharist and the Hunger for Jesus, the Bread of Life .
Conferences developing the theme for the day are so well supplied with famous names, they look like a 'Divine Cornmend Variety performance'. For example for the family Life Conference on August 2 to be
held at the Philadelphia Convention Hall, between 9.30 and 4.30, the programme says that the main speakers will include Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco. The themes covered during this conference will include 'Theology of Marriage', 'Family: school for marriage', 'Family at prayer,' Once together now alone' and 'Contemporary society and the mission of family'.
At the seven hour Freedom and Justice Conference on the following day it says that among the main speakers will be Archbishop Helder Camara, Archbishop Benelli and Mother Teresa.
But it won't be all talk. There are performances of 'A Man for All Seasons', 'Godspell' and a number of other plays and concerts. Ella Fitzgerald and Dave Brubeck will be among musicians performing at the Congress.
Most important is still the daily mass or Eucharistic Celebration as it is called in the programme. The opening and final masses will be celebrated by the Apostolic legate, the Pope's personal representative to the Congress, Cardinal James Knox, formerly of Melbourne. The theme for the day will be simultaneously used in masses in all churches throughout America, a true symbol of the offering being celebrated "from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof."