Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Arequipa (Fides Service) - Saturday 29 at La Salle Education Centre in Arequipa, about 1,000 people, members of religious communities, parish groups, lay movements took part in a Penitential Celebration led by the Archbishop José Ríos Reynoso to purify memory and ask forgiveness for past errors. The Celebration was part of preparations for the 1st Diocesan Eucharistic Congress, scheduled 13 to 20 November on the theme “Eucharist, food for new life”.
The Celebration was planned the same way as Pope John Paul II’s request for forgiveness on behalf of the whole Church of all times in St Peter’s Basilica during the Jubilee Year 2000. The archbishop of Arequipa said with the Celebration the diocese “wanted to ask the Most Holy Trinity to forgive all the Church’s failings” and also to “call people to step over the threshold of reconciliation to celebrate with a new and joyful heart the 1st diocesan Eucharistic Congress”. Referring to Peru as a nation the archbishop said it was time to cross another threshold putting good resolutions into practice, results obtained so far and also the sufferings of the past, into seed beds of brotherly co-existence”.
Preparations are being intensified for the imminent Congress. On 3 and 4 November parishes all over Arequipa will meet at the Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Hall to share reflections on the Basic Text of the Congress; 5 November in Piazza Spagna in Arequipa children’s parish choirs will give a concert; 11 there will be a polyphonic concert at the Church of the Franciscan Third Order. (RZ) (Agenzia Fides 3/11/2005, righe 21, parole 272)
