By Tara Kennedy and Michael Cook
Sunday, 1 March, marked the beginning of a year of prayer in preparation for the 54th International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in Sydney and the visit of Pope Leo XIV in 2028.
The launch of the one of the most important events in the long history of the Catholic Church in Australia began with Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral. Concelebrating with Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP were auxiliary bishops Daniel Meagher, Tony Percy, and Richard Umbers and the Chaldean Eparch Archbishop Amel Nona and Melkite Eparch Bishop Robert Rabbat.
”Eucharist28” will also be the 100th anniversary of the 1928 Eucharistic Congress in Sydney.
Just that morning news broke that the United States and Israel had launched an attack on Iran and killed its leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Archbishop asked the congregation for their prayers for peace in the Holy Land and in the Middle East.
In his homily, the Archbishop said that “All around our cathedral today you see banners with seven short words, spoken by Christ at the Last Supper. These words will be the heart of the 54th International Eucharistic Congress in Sydney in 2028: ‘This is my Body, given for you’.
“Our journey to and through Eucharist28 will unfold like that of the first apostles, through three stages of encounter, transformation, and mission.”
He explained that the “encounter” phase is the three years of preparation.
The “transformation” phase will be a full week of the Congress “bookended by an Opening Mass and the Final Mass; a theological conference; a week of worship, catechesis, concerts, celebrations; an unforgettable Eucharistic procession through the streets of Sydney; and Mass in the many rites and languages, parishes and cultures of our local Church.”
And the mission phase will stretch out for another five years, until 2033, the 2000th celebration of Christ’s Death and Resurrection – and of the institution of the Eucharist. “We will long continue to harvest the fruits of the Congress with stronger faith, deeper devotion, revitalised parishes, and whatever surprises God has in store for us!” he said.
The Mass at the Cathedral was part of a nationwide launch for Eucharist 28. Across the country there were Holy Hours of Eucharistic adoration. In St Mary’s Cathedral, the Archbishop gave Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament to a large and prayerful crowd – interrupted by loud chanting and music outside from a demonstration against the current regime in Iran.
He urged everyone to be part of a “full-blown Eucharistic revival”.
“As we begin this Year of Prayer, let us take this invitation seriously. Let us watch with Christ, not only for this hour but in every hour He gives us from now unto eternity,” he said. “Although we come to Him weary and distracted, frail and damaged, like His first disciples did, He doesn’t turn us away. He wants us near to Him always.”
Later in the afternoon, Bishop Umbers, the CEO of Eucharist28, presided over a Holy Hour at St Peter Chanel parish in Regents Park, where 700 people joined in a procession through the streets, led by primary students singing Eucharistic hymns.
“We are a pilgrim people. We do not stay still. We go places, and we go there together,” explained Bishop Umbers. “A modest 200-metre walk around a parish block, reverently arranged and prayerfully undertaken, can catechise more deeply than many excellent talks. I have seen it.”
Afterwards, Ben Galea, the chief operating officer of Eucharist28, explained to The Catholic Weekly how Eucharist28 will unfold. He described it as “an extraordinary moment of grace”.
Not just for practicing Catholics, either.
He says that Eucharist 28 is an opportunity to draw back to the Church people who have stopped going to Mass – perhaps they gave up during COVID or they had never really engaged with the church.
“We’re also looking at the broader secular nation as well,” he said. “And the message of ‘believe’ is an invitation to each of those different communities and groups, wherever they’re at in their stage of their faith –or unfaith– to be invited into this moment.”
Even the noisy Iranian demonstrators during the Holy Hour, asked The Catholic Weekly.
“I heard that blare coming through, and immediately felt it as distraction,” responded Galea. “But, OK, this was also an opportunity to pray for what’s taking place in the world at this moment. Eucharist28 is an opportunity for the Church to really present the Lord as the prince of peace and to invite the broader world into unity.”
Perhaps Eucharist28 is already beginning to bear fruit. After the Sunday Mass, The Catholic Weekly caught up with Amanda, a Brazilian who has settled in Sydney with her family. She was very excited to hear that the Pope will be coming to Sydney – but just as excited about making her first Holy Communion at Easter.
 in Sydney and the visit of Pope Leo XIV in 2028.){kind=link}