MAYNOOTH, Ireland, JULY 5, 2012 (Zenit.org).- In close continuity with last month’s International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, the Council of European Bishops Conference held their Annual Congress of European Vocations in St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth.
The theme was: “The Eucharist, source of every Christian vocation: communion, testimony, mission”. Thirteen European nations were represented as well as representatives from the United States and Canada.
Among those present at the first day of the Congress were Cardinal Sean Brady, president of the Irish Bishops Conference and Archbishop of Armagh, and Archbishop Charles Brown, apostolic nuncio to Ireland.
The meeting was chaired by the Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor, Donal McKeown, vocations delegate for the Irish Bishops’ Conference, and by the EVS Co-ordinator, Fr. Jorge Madureira Soares.
The first session examined the theme from a theological and ecclesiological point of view, through the contribution of Fr. Laurent Villemin of France. Starting out from some of the insights of the French theologian Henry De Lubac in “Corpus Mysticum”, and in the light of John Paul II’s reflections “Ecclesia vivit de Eucharistia”, Fr. Villemin underlined the importance of the communion dimension of the Eucharist. The French priest asserted that there is no Eucharist without a priest and there is no Eucharist without community: it is the root of every authentic vocational prayer and of every choice of the gift of life for the Lord Jesus.
The second session was led by Fr. Antonio Bravo Tisner from Spain, who, developing an original comment on the Eucharistic prayer “O Sacrum Convivium”, highlighted the importance of a personal ‘I’ which is absorbed in the otherness of the divine You.
The congress ended with the presentation of the new document Pastoral Guidelines for Fostering Vocations to Priestly Ministry, drawn up by the Pontifical Work for Priestly Vocations of the Congregation for Catholic Education.
At the end of the meeting Monsignor Domenico Dal Molin (Italy) was elected for a three-year term as new EVS Co-ordinator, with two deputy coordinators, Fr Angel Perez Pueyo (Spain) and Sr. M.Vincenta Korìnkovà (Czech Republic).
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On the NET:
Main reports of the Congress: www.vocations.eu.
