Lubumbashi (DR Congo). From 4 to 11 June 2023, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of the Province of O.L. of Africa (AFC) participated in the Third National Eucharistic Congress convoked by the Episcopal Conference of Bishops of Congo (CENCO), held in Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on the theme of the Eucharist and the family.
Eucharistic Congresses are solemn and extraordinary assemblies convened for the purpose of increasing understanding and participation in the Eucharistic Mystery in all its aspects, up to its irradiation in personal and social life. This third Eucharistic Congress – the first was held in Kisantu in 1933, the second at the Nganda Center in Kishansa in 1980 – has been postponed twice due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
All forty-eight dioceses of CENCO participated in the Congress, represented by their Bishops, Archbishops, Episcopal Vicars, women and men religious, including fourteen FMA, including the Provincial, Sr. Clarisse Ngoie, as well as numerous lay people. The assembly concluded with a Eucharistic Celebration presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, special envoy of the Holy Father. He brought the participants in the Congress “the paternal greetings of Pope Francis,” and recalled who, after his visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (January 31-February 3, 2023), expressed “in various ways how close you are to his heart.”
On the evening of 9 June 2023, the Cardinal visited Laura Vicuña Community of the FMA in Lubumbashi, a shelter for young people in difficulty from disadvantaged families, and encouraged them to stay and grow up with the sisters, to receive a good education.
The theme of the Eucharist and Family Congress carries with it the desire to make the Church in Congo a community according to the meanings and values of a family. Among the most significant moments, the catechesis of the Bishops in different languages and in different parishes; times and spaces for the sacrament of reconciliation; the procession of the Blessed Sacrament; the Via Crucis; a cultural moment; the sacrament of communion administered to more than 2,000 children; and the bestowal of parchments to some couples who have been married for 50 years.
The participating FMA illustrate some of the topics discussed in those days:
“The Church generates through Baptism and nourishes through the Eucharist, source of peace, fraternity, solidarity, welcome, dialogue, and trust. The sharing of the Eucharistic bread can be celebrated in truth only if it continues in the sharing of the bread of one’s table, every day and in every place. Furthermore, the Eucharist infuses real new life into relationships with brothers and sisters, but also with creation. This is why the Congress promotes integral humanism.
The reasons that prompted our Bishops to choose this theme were to face the various challenges of our time, especially the re-emergence of new forms of paganism that afflict our society. They wanted this Eucharistic Congress as a moment of awareness of our daily life as Congolese Christians around the big question: how can we build a just world? It is an urgent matter, because in its pursuit of social justice, the Church is facing great challenges because of injustice, tribalism, and growing inequality.
‘Solidarity and sharing’ mean attention to the poor and disadvantaged, social justice and the balanced and equitable promotion of all the daughters and sons of our people. How can we enter into communion with God without entering into communion with the pains and legitimate aspirations of our brothers and sisters, especially the poorest, the oppressed, and the most vulnerable?”
“The family of God is born of the Eucharist”, which “makes us the family of God. Even if we are many, even if we are different from each other, we are one family in Jesus Christ. And the life of this family is the love of the Holy Spirit which makes us grow,” said Cardinal Tagle as he celebrated the closing Eucharist precisely on the day of Corpus Domini, at the Mazembe stadium with the archbishop of Lubumbashi and with almost all the prelates of the African country. He invited them to “break and share the bread that is Jesus to build a community and a family.”
“Turn always to Jesus, the Bread of life: as a family, as a Church, as a people. Hunger and thirst for Him; come to Him, abide in Him, and live in Him. Love and serve one another in remembrance of Him,” was his final mandate.
Before leaving the Congolese land, the Pope’s envoy visited the Dioceses of Kolwezi, Goma, and Kinshasa, celebrating Holy Mass in each on the theme of the Congress and gathering expressions of gratitude to Pope Francis for the gift of one of his representatives and of the time of grace of a Eucharistic Congress.
