The 50th International Eucharistic Congress is being held from June 10 to 17, 2012, in Dublin, Ireland. It is chaired by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of the Roman Catholic Church. Among the guests is Father George Zavershinsky, dean of the Russian Orthodox Church’s parishes in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Father George read out a message of greetings sent to the Congress by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external relations. In his message, Metropolitan Hilarion expressed his concern about the modern tendencies for deviation from Christian roots and from the traditional religious and moral heritage of European nations. Among the causes of these tendencies, the document states, is weakened attention to the doctrinal truths and sacramental life of the Church. Metropolitan Hilarion also warns against the inclination to see in the sacrament of the Eucharist not a manifestation of the conciliar life of the Church but a means for meeting private spiritual needs since ‘the spiritual consumerist’ attitude to the sacrament often leads to the desacralization of Eucharistic life which lies at the foundation of the Church’s existence.
The International Eucharistic Congress is traditionally held by the Roman Catholic Church once in four years in various countries. It attracts a considerable number of participants including bishops, priests and lay people. The first Congress took place in 1881 in Lille, France, and the most recent one in 2008, in Quebec, Canada.