Bishop Dunne to lead diocesan pilgrimage to Eucharistic Congress in Ireland
Auxiliary Bishop John Dunne is inviting all Long Island Catholics to join him for a Rockville Centre Diocese pilgrimage next June to the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, Ireland.
The Eucharistic Congress, which occurs once every four years, gathers clergy, religious, and laity from around the world to promote an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church and to help improve the understanding and celebration of the liturgy. The weeklong event will include workshops, catechesis, witness talks by laity, and celebration of daily Mass.
Because Bishop Dunne’s parents are from Castlebar in western Ireland, the diocese decided to build the pilgrimage around visiting that area, explained trip coordinator Msgr. James McNamara, pastor of Holy Cross Church in Nesconset and acting vicar for the eastern part of Long Island. “We’ll be able to go to some of the more popular and traditional sites but we’ll also be able to go to places off the beaten path that would be germane to that area of the country, like the museum outside Castlebar” and other sites of historical, cultural, and religious interest.
The pilgrimage will include a stop at the Marian shrine at Knock, where an apparition of the Blessed Mother occurred in 1879, before “we work our way over to Dublin,” said Msgr. McNamara. “Even when we’re at the Eucharistic Congress the mornings will be spent touring while the afternoons and evenings will be spent at the Eucharistic Congress. It’ll be a nice combination of being able to see the beautiful parts of Ireland while at the same time being able to plug into the grace and the works of the Eucharistic Congress.”
“It really is a pilgrimage,” he noted. “A pilgrimage is a journey to seek God, where you displace yourself from all that is familiar, in order to meet God in a new way, whether it be in the events of the Eucharistic Congress itself or the touring or at Mass each day or just in the beauty of nature in a country like Ireland.”
“It’ll be a fun thing and it’ll be a prayerful thing,” he continued. “I’ve done many pilgrimages over the years, especially to Assisi in Italy, and I know what the pilgrimage experience can be for people to deepen their faith. What I find is that people bring with them the issues, the persons in their lives that are of importance to them, be they unresolved issues or broken relationships or concerns or prayers for others, and in the course of it, they seem to find their way to some peace or some resolution to deal with something that may have been on the back burner for awhile or to be inspired to try harder. The grace of the pilgrimage is precisely the grace of being displaced and then being able to look at things from a fresher perspective because of that.”
The pilgrimage, which will be June 4-13, 2012, costs $2,834 per person. A Dublin-only option from June 9-13 is also available for $1,999 per person. Both prices include airfare, accommodations, tours, the cost of the Eucharistic Congress, and some meals. Anyone interested is encouraged to sign up by the end of January 2012. For more information, visit www.pilgrimage.com/bishopdunne or contact Eva Relyea at 206 Tours at 800-206-TOUR ext. 107 or eva@206tours.com.
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