Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Corrientes (Fides Service) - "It is our deep desire that the National Eucharistic Congress to which we invite all the Catholics in the Republic of Argentina, may be a spiritually transcendent event leading to a future of authentic renewal for the Church and society in our country". This statement was part of a letter issued by the Catholic Bishops of Argentina to convoke the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in September announced at the end of the 85th plenary assembly of the Bishops’ Conference held recently.
The Congress will take place in Corrientes from 2 to 5 September 2004. Preparatory handbooks explain the Congress motto and theme: motto: “you give them to eat", theme: "Eucharist: reconciliation and solidarity", because "the Eucharist is the source and summit of filial reconciliation which enables repentant children to turn to the Father" and because “the first fruit of the Eucharist is communion and brotherhood, sharing of life and goods”.
The Congress "will be a response to God’s love and conversion to the one true God" the Bishops say in the convocation stressing that society "must turn to God or face the void". Therefore the country must turn to Christ, encounter Him to find the answers to overcome desperation and promote national unity, so damaged. Moreover, "the Eucharist is nourishment for the love and evangelising fervour demanded of the People of God in Argentina at the beginning of the third millennium".
On the recent feast of Corpus Christi in Corrientes, where the Congress will take place in September, the Archbishop Domingo Salvador Castagna of Corrientes said that Liturgy was “a foretaste of the National Eucharistic Congress which will make the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament present in the heart of society”. The Archbishop Castagna has said repeatedly that the Congress will help bring about the changes needed in the country. He is convinced that Argentina must return to the path of civil and Christian values for which it was known in the past and which it has since abandoned. In preparation for the Eucharistic Congress the organising committee has issued handbooks and other material available on the Congress web site. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 22/6/2004; Righe 25; Parole 343)
