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By Erika Anderson & Priscilla Greear, Staff Writers
ATLANTA—Thousands of people on June 16 will have the
opportunity to celebrate their faith and the solemnity of Corpus Christi in an
unprecedented way.
As people from parishes and missions of North Georgia gather
together for the all-day observance at the Georgia International Convention
Center, many members of the body of Christ will be physically present. At the
same time the universal Catholic Church will be represented in an remarkable
way through speakers and celebrants, including the preacher to the pontifical
household, Father Raniero Cantalamessa, and Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua of
Philadelphia and Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore.
Most significantly, the body of Christ, present in the Eucharist,
will be the centerpiece of a day filled with preaching, worship and personal
reflection.
Father Frank McNamee, pastor of St. Peter Chanel Church, Roswell,
expects six busloads of his parishioners to caravan to the center near
Hartsfield International Airport. The pastor said that the day, culminating in
the celebration of Mass, is a time set aside to grow in faith.
“Within our lives, we set goals. In the corporate world we go
to workshops and seminars . . . We send our kids to every ball camp we can
think of,” he said. “But what about our faith?”
The day is a “golden opportunity” for Catholics, he
said.
“This is another way to bring people to a deeper
understanding of the Eucharist in their lives,” he said. “We need to
really challenge ourselves to put this day on the calendar—to take this
one day of spiritual renewal to really grow in our faith.”
The June 16 event, called “Come To Me,” will open with a
eucharistic procession in which 90 Catholic groups, organizations and churches
will march with their individual banners. After a time of eucharistic worship,
led by Cardinal Keeler, separate sessions will begin for Hispanics and teens,
while middle-school and younger children will have their own programs.
The central track in English for adults will open with Father
Cantalamessa, who will be followed later by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of
Denver, both Capuchin Franciscans. Jeff Cavins, a lay evangelist, will also
speak.
All groups, including children, will gather together for the 5
p.m. closing Mass of Corpus Christi celebrated by Cardinal Bevilacqua. Time for
confession will be offered during the day, as will intervals of worship music
and breaks for lunch and for refreshment.
The center can accommodate 7,000 people.
The event marks the fifth anniversary of Eucharistic Renewal in
the archdiocese, begun by Archbishop John F. Donoghue on Corpus Christi weekend
in 1996. It also marks the one-year anniversary of an outreach to reconcile
Catholics who have been away from the church.
Father Larry Niese, pastor of St. Peter Church, LaGrange, said at
least 50 parishioners from his 400-family parish, including 15 youth, will come
to the day of Eucharistic Renewal.
The group includes about nine Catholics who returned to active
participation in the church. The LaGrange parish responded to Archbishop
Donoghue’s call to extend personal invitations to inactive Catholics to
welcome them back. Those returning include a family of five and an individual
Catholic who Father Niese met while going to lunch with parishioners. After she
responded to the pastor’s invitation to talk with him, she decided to
become active again in the Catholic Church and her husband decided to become a
Catholic.
As the speakers offer their personal stories and speak on
evangelizing for Christ, Father Niese thinks the conference will strengthen
both reconnecting Catholics and lifelong church members.
“It’s an amazing event and it’s not going to come
along that often,” he said. “We’re all called to evangelize and
proclaim the Good News to all nations and this is a tool to help us to do that.
Any time you get a lot of people there’s a certain enthusiasm that comes
with that . . . Sometimes you say, ‘What difference can I make as an
individual?’ But when you see a whole group you’ll say, ‘Yes, I
can make a difference in what God calls me to.’”
Father Niese spoke of the importance of the opening time of
eucharistic adoration, encouraging people to look inward.
“I think our hope is in the Eucharist, especially adoration .
. . by helping us to question ourselves, our identities, and ask important
questions that we need to ask (like) who we are, why are we here on
earth,” he said.
True worship helps the faithful to hear the Holy Spirit and see
that “God is God and we’re not, and yet we’re loved. God loves
us,” he said.
Father Tom Hennessy, priest-in-charge of missions in Thomaston and
Barnesville, has stressed to his people, living in a rural area that is one
percent Catholic, that the celebration will be an experience of the universal
church.
About 40 people at the missions, plus at least another 40 at
Sacred Heart Church, Griffin, where he preached one Sunday, are expected to
come.
“Especially for missions it’s an opportunity to be a
part of this, to see the great universality and great gifts of the church that
you can’t see in this area,” he said. “It would be a travesty
for people to be so close to this and miss it for some minor event in their
life. To gather with other Catholics in the archdiocese, to really gather as a
family for this eucharistic event, I just think it’s an incredible
opportunity for everybody here.”
He believes it can be for many an “event that can change your
life, an event of great remembrance in your life.”
Since the U.S. bishops are holding their annual spring meeting in
Atlanta June 14-16, a number of bishops, in addition to the scheduled speakers,
plan to attend, he said.
“With all the bishops who will stay around for the conference
. . . the cardinals and the speakers on the list, (who) are
incredible—when would Catholics see that again? Most likely never unless
they go to Rome,” Father Hennessy said.
Father Jaime Barona, pastor of St. Bernadette Church, Cedartown,
said he expects approximately 200 people from his parish, both Hispanic and
Anglo, to come. And Vivian Curti, an assistant with the Hispanic ministry at
the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, reports that at least 50 have
registered from that Latino community.
The track in Spanish will include presentations by Bishop James
Tamayo of Laredo, Texas, and Father Fabio Sotelo-Peña of the Cathedral
of Christ the King, Atlanta. Father Sotelo-Peña, a native of Colombia,
will speak in place of Bishop Agustín Román, auxiliary bishop of
Miami, who is ill and unable to attend. He holds a master of divinity degree
and a master of arts degree in Scripture and has taught literature, Spanish and
philosophy.
Father Barona said he has been preaching on the significance of
the solemn feast of Corpus Christi, which will be celebrated that day.
“We are celebrating the body of Christ, the Eucharist, the
mystery of our faith,” he points out.
Father Barona said he also has encouraged people to come in order
to demonstrate, and to experience, the unity created by the Holy Spirit in the
community of the church, which is also the body of Christ.
“We are celebrating the church united,” he said.
“We are united as a church with many different members.”
Barb Garvin, archdiocesan director of youth ministry, said that
youth ministers and teens are excited about hearing the speakers on the high
school track, including Cavins, Matt Smith from MTV’s “The Real
World,” Father Stan Fortuna, CFR, and Karen Reynolds from Franciscan
University in Steubenville, Ohio. Music will be provided by Ed Bolduc and Band.
Garvin believes the event gives Catholic teens a rare look at the universal
church.
“This is not only an opportunity for the teens to hear
phenomenal speakers, but to gather as part of the larger Catholic community of
Atlanta,” she said. “That’s the advantage of having these big
events for the kids because that is something they don’t get to see very
often, especially living in the South.”
Garvin also believes that the event will light the fire of Christ
within many of the teens.
“It is important that our kids know that church is fun and
that being excited about your faith and being involved in your faith is a good
thing,” she said.
In addition to the groups marching in the opening procession, all
children who received first Communion in the archdiocese this year have been
invited to lead the procession for the closing Mass. The children, who can take
part in age-appropriate tracks during the day, are asked to wear their first
Communion apparel and gather at 4:30 p.m. for the procession.
There will also be a designated area at the Georgia International
Convention Center where approximately 30 exhibitors will be set up with
information about their ministries and outreach in the archdiocese.
An estimated 300 volunteers will serve in capacities such as
catechists, child care, eucharistic guardians and ministers, security
personnel, hospitality, first aid and ushers.
The event has been in the planning process for over a year by a
committee formed by Archbishop Donoghue. Additional information, including map,
directions, details on various tracks, time schedules, and basic questions and
answers, appear on pages 3, 4 and 5. Tickets at $10 may be obtained through
individual parishes or by calling (404) 751-2382.
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