2016 International Eucharistic Congress

The 2016 International Eucharistic Congress is the 51st edition of the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) which took place from January 24–31, 2016 in Cebu City, Philippines. A convention center, the International Eucharistic Congress Pavilion, was made for this occasion. Pope Francis sent Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Myanmar as his papal legate,^[1] who had presided the opening Mass on January 24.^[2]

This is the second time that the Philippines hosted the International Eucharistic Congress, with the first one held in Manila on February 3–7, 1937.^[1]

Preparations

The Cebu City Traffic Office ran traffic dry-runs days before the event to ensure that the traffic situation during the event will be manageable. Several roads are closed, however selected roads are open to public vehicles only.^[3]

Catholic Schools and selected public schools in Cebu which includes universities has suspended classes during the IEC week.^[3]

The Philippine National Police's Regional Office 7 is also ensuring safety and security for the event and its ad-hoc task group on the IEC and Sinulog has requested additional support from Camp Crame which includes the Explosives Ordnance Division and bomb-sniffing dog squad of the Philippine military.^[3]

Marketing

Mobile app

The IEC2016 Guide was developed by InnoPub Media as the official mobile app for the event which includes information for the event such as schedules, speakers, basic theological text, news and updates, and links to the official livestream feed of the event. It also includes information on tourism sites within Metro Cebu, particularly religious heritage sites such as churches.^[4]

Logo

The logo used for the 2016 International Eucharistic Congress was derived from a logo design competition. The winning design was made by Jayson Jaluag, a 19-years old fine arts student from Mandaue.^[5]

The Sun signifies the hope of glory and a new beginning. It also emphasizes the host country whose flag has the sun as one of its primary elements. The seven rays of the sun represents the seven gifts of the Holy spirit. The chalice and the bread signifies the sacredness of the Eucharist. The "IHS" monogram which stands for (Iesus Hominum Salvator) symbolize the Holy Name of Jesus and represents the host city of Cebu whose former name was Villa del Santissimo Nombre de Jesus.^[5]

The missionary nature of the Catholic Church is symbolized by the stylized boat. The three people on the boat in different colors portrays the principles which influences the faith of Filipinos; green for hope, blue for faith itself, and red for charity. The boat's aqua blue color represents the Christian pilgrimage to Heaven.^[5]

Venues

The newly constructed International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) Pavilion built by Duros Development Corporation will be the primary venue of the Congress.^[6]

Events

Theological Symposium

The Cebu Doctors' University in Mandaue was the venue of the Theological Symposium

From January 20–22, a symposium was held at the Cebu Doctors' University in Mandaue, Cebu where the Eucharist among other topics were discussed.^[7] Members of the clergy and theologians attended the symposium.^[8] 1,800 people attended on the first day.^[7]

Among the speakers and worshop facilitators that led the event were:^[9]

• Fr. Timothy Radcliffe (United Kingdom) - discussed the virtue of hope. He attributed the rise of terrorism as the cause of a "crisis of hope." He described hope as "not just intellectual curiosity" but also as "existential".^[8]
• Fr. Francis Moloney (Australia) - a Salesian priest, author and editor. Discussed the passage from the gospel of John, “He loved them to the end”, and presented a narrative on the Eucharist's institution
• Fr. Mark Francis (United States) - President of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Discussed the topic of liturgy and inculturation
• Messenger Piero Marini (Italy) - Pontifical Committee for the IEC president and a papal master of ceremonies for 20 years. Discussed the Novus Ordo's history.
• Fr. Thomas Rosica (Canada) - Columinist for a Catholic media network who spoke on the topic, “Evangelizing the secular world”
• Dr. Josefina Manabat (Philippines) - The sole woman speaker and dean of the graduate school of San Beda College, Manila who discussed the “catechesis on the Sunday Eucharist”.

Congress proper

January 24

The Congress started on January 24 with a high mass in the Plaza Independencia led by Cardinal Bo.^[10] The Police Regional Office 7 estimates that the mass was attended by at least 350,000 people.^[11]

January 26

Cardinal Bo along with other church officials visited the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center. Bo was joined by Cebu Archbishop José S. Palma and the papal legate's protocol officer Jan Limchua who is a priest. They witness the CPDRC Dancing Inmates performing the theme of the Congress and interacted with the inmates after the performance.^[12]

January 28

Don Bosco Youth Center (DBYC) in Barangay Pasil, Cebu City was visited by Cardinal Bo who is Salesians of Don Bosco member himself. The DBYC performed a traditional Sinulog dance for the visiting cardinal.^[12] Bo earlier visited a slum area prior to his visit to the youth center. At his speech before students of the youth center, Bo urged the youth to pursue their vocations, never give up and to never blame others, themselves or their situations as an excuse to remain idle.^[13]

January 29

In the morning at the IEC Pavilion, Cardinals John Onaiyekan of Nigeria and Oswald Gracias of India discussed about the Eucharist.^[14]

At the meet attended by 15,000 people, Onaiyekan criticized discrimination of the Church which he called a form of "apartheid" and urged people that the IEC should be open to people regardless of social standing. He also criticized the government of Saudi Arabia and ISIS for its practice of crucifixion, the later for using the means as a form of capital punishment and the latter for using it against Christians which he views as disrespectful to the sacredness of the symbol of the cross. He also noted the violent response to the alleged disrespect of the Quran while urging people to respect the religious symbols of people of another faith. He also criticized the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo. Onaiyekan says despite of these, "the cross still remains the symbol of the victory of the Lord Jesus,”^[15]

The second mass of the IEC was held at 4:00 pm local time. A grand procession was held after the mass with a custom-made gold-plated brass monstrance on a float accompanying devotees.^[14][16]

January 30

As one of the highlights of the Congress, Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Vidal administered the first communion of 5,000 children, some of whom are street children.^[17][18]

January 31

The Congress concluded with the Statio Orbis or closing mass.^[12] It was expected that millions will attend the event.^[11] Pope Francis announced the next International Eucharistic Congress will be held in 2020 in Budapest, Hungary.^[19][20]

Media coverage

The 2016 edition marked the first time in the history of the congress to have a global satellite broadcast. The Philippine Broadcast Pool under the auspices of Radio-Television Malacañang (RTVM) was activated to facilitate the media coverage of the event. It was planned that the coverage of the event would be similar to the one done during Pope Francis' visit to the Philippines in January 2015.^[21]

The IEC Channel was set up which featured 12 hours of programming which covered all major events of the IEC and featured major live and tape-delay broadcasts. RTVM was responsible for running the control room including the master switcher as well as the events held at the IEC Pavilion and International Media Center. The People’s Television Network was responsible for the outdoor coverage.^[21]

With assistance from the Supreme Office of the Knights of Columbus, the main satellite uplink was provided by Apstar Global which enabled the broadcasting of the IEC to as far as Italy and the United States. PLDT provided a bandwidth of 1 GB to the TOC. Cignal TV broadcast the IEC in two of its channels; standard definition on Channel 99 and high definition for Channel 199. TV Maria and the Cebu Catholic Television Network also broadcast the IEC.^[21]

The EWTN Global Catholic Network which had a reach of 144 countries, RAI of Italy, and Centro Televisivo Vaticano also covered the event.^[21] The congress was also broadcast through radio by Radyo Veritas in Luzon and DYRF broadcast the event to Visayas and Mindanao on top of the stations of the Catholic Media Network.^[21]

References