Eucharistic Marian Congress slated for August (08/01/04)

Eucharistic Marian Congress slated for August

STAMFORD, Conn. - August 13-15 will mark a double milestone in the life of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United States. On that weekend the Eparchy of Stamford will recall the National Eucharistic Marian Congress of the Oriental Rites, which took place in Philadelphia in 1954 - a Marian Year - when the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate will host the 2004 Eucharistic Marian Congress. In addition, the congress will be held in conjunction with the Holy Dormition Pilgrimage, which has been held annually for the past 50 years on the beautiful grounds of the sisters' provincialate in Sloatsburg.

The congress has as its theme "Holy Things for the Holy," words taken from the divine liturgy. The theme of the Pilgrimage, Mary, Woman of the Eucharist is taken from Pope John Paul II's recent encyclical on the Eucharist. Both themes reflect how mountains are moved in the spiritual life through the dynamism of the Eucharistic presence of our Lord God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The congress begins on Friday, August 13, with an all-night vigil geared to teens and young people. The celebrant and homilist of the opening liturgy will be Archbishop Stefan Soroka, metropolitan of Philadelphia.

Saturday, August 14, will be a day devoted to evangelization and renewal through workshops devoted to the Eucharist and to Mary, the Mother of God. The keynote address will be delivered by Bishop Robert Moskal of the St. Josaphat Eparchy of Parma. The day will conclude with the celebration of solemn vespers and the deposition of the Shroud of the Holy Mother of God.

Thousands are expected to gather on Sunday, the third day of the congress-pilgrimage. The highlight of the day will be a concelebrated pontifical divine liturgy led by Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, primate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.

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