Eucharistic Congress proposes churches with hours that are "in sync with today's rhythm"
The V National Eucharistic Congress, which ended today in Braga, proposed adapting church timetables to the "rhythm of today's world" and "Christian spirituality to digital environments", among other ideas, according to the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP).
© Reuters
País Igreja
"Church opening hours should be adapted to the rhythm of today's world, seeking to stimulate moments of personal prayer and involve the laity, the brotherhoods of the Blessed Sacrament, catechists and other pastoral agents in the dynamization of moments of community Eucharistic adoration," says the CEP document, which includes the conclusions of the congress.
The three-day meeting also resulted in the idea that it is necessary to "seek a balance between tradition and the need to introduce new languages into the liturgy", creating measures to integrate young people "into this process of renewal and adapting Christian spirituality to digital environments and the secularized world".
Stating that the "Eucharist summons everyone, is open to all and turns no one away", the CEP argues that the Eucharist must be expressed beyond the doors of the church, "through real responses to people's concrete needs".
Between Friday and today, the 5th National Eucharistic Congress (CEN) was held in Braga on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of its first edition.
With the theme "Sharing the Bread, Nourishing Hope. 'They recognized Him in the breaking of the Bread'", the meeting brought together about 1,400 participants, four cardinals and 30 bishops, with all Portuguese dioceses represented, says the congress's concluding document.
In the closing homily of the 5th National Eucharistic Congress, where he was present as Pope Francis' special envoy, D. José Tolentino de Mendonça highlighted this morning that the church in Portugal is "called to be a Eucharistic Church", that is, one that "does not place itself as a priority" and "that values the participation of all the baptized, that recognizes the role of the ordained ministry, that cares for its pastors and cherishes them" and that "reads with prophecy the place of women in the Church".
"The Eucharistic Church is a church of 'open doors', which presents itself more as an experience of loving service to life, instead of the rigidity of judgments that exclude," stressed the prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See, in the speech to which the Lusa agency had access.
Read Also: Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça defends "Eucharistic Church" against judgments (Portuguese version)
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