“We want to begin our Year of the Eucharist by starting out from Guadalajara in Mexico where the International Eucharistic Congress (10-17 October) was held in recent days. It marks the opening of this special year, and we hope to hold our own Eucharistic Congress here in our own city next summer. My hope is that in the course of the next few months we will all succeed in deepening our sense of devotion for the real presence of Christ in the Holy Sacrament”. With these words, published in the diocesan weekly, “Flourish”, Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow announced that the Year of the Eucharist will be launched in the archdiocese on Sunday 31 October with a concelebration in St. Andrew’s Cathedral in which priests and faithful from the whole diocese will take part. “We have a need to rediscover the importance of prayer continued the archbishop -. Even the simple gesture of genuflexion can become an expression of love. We need to aim at quality of devotion to the Eucharist to achieve, through contemplation of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament, that ‘noble’ Christian lifestyle that the Pope has called ‘indispensable for the new evangelization'”. On the basis of John Paul II’s invitation to the whole Church to celebrate “in a very special way” the year dedicated to the Eucharist, various initiatives will involve the parishes and deaneries of the archdiocese of Glasgow in the next twelve months. The deaneries will organize, in turn, special “Eucharistic Weeks”, including homilies and workshops of reflection on the Eucharist, moments for confession and for adoration. “We want to be sure that everyone in the diocese has the opportunity to participate said Father Paul Murray, head of the diocesan office for pastoral care -. We hope that the Corpus Christi procession held every year may become a diocesan event in 2005, with representatives of all the parishes”.
