Lenten campaign 2026
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In 2028, Australia will host the 54th International Eucharistic Congress in Sydney, dubbed Eucharist28. Australian Catholics are already preparing for this multi-day international event with a journey of intentional prayer and catechesis. This nation-wide initiative will launch on March 1 this year, when every one of Australia’s almost 1,400 parishes is encouraged to hold a Eucharistic Holy Hour.
International Eucharisti Congresses are planned every four years, with locations ultimately determined by the Holy Father. The last International Eucharistic Congress was held in Quito, Ecuador, in 2024, with other recent locations including Hungary (2021), the Philippines (2016), and Ireland (2012).
While the excitement was already building, it's now even greater as on February 9, it was announced that Pope Leo told the Sydney auxiliary bishop in charge of the congress that he would be at the event.
A long history of Eucharistic devotion in Australia
This Congress will take place 100 years after the first Australian Congress in Sydney in 1928. According to Eucharist28’s organizers, the 1928 Congress was the “largest religious spectacle seen in Australia at that time.”
The Blessed Sacrament was carried by boat from Manly Cove to Circular Quay with five planes flying in the shape of a cross. Boats across the harbor were full of people singing O Sacrament Most Holy. There was a huge Eucharistic procession, with an estimated half million people participating.
The Church in Australia, which has some 5 million Catholics, hopes that this Eucharistic Congress will be carried out in the spirit of Pope Leo XIII, who wrote on the feast of Corpus Christi in 1902:
'beautiful and joyful spectacle of Christian fellowship and social equality which is afforded when people of all conditions, gentle and simple, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, gather round the holy altar, all sharing alike in this heavenly banquet.' (n.11)
Looking forward to 2028
Plans are already being made for Eucharist28 itself, to be held at the International Convention Centre in Sydney. This event is for everyone, with programs for youth and families included among the liturgies, catechesis, and cultural events.
Auxiliary Bishop Richard Umbers, General Secretary for Eucharist28, shares,
"My hope is that people in Sydney, across Australia, Oceania and the whole world will discover for the first time or rediscover the joy of being nourished by Christ and be strengthened to become His presence in our communities – other Christs for the life of the world.”
Pope Leo XIV chose the theme for the Congress this past fall: “This is My Body, Given for You”.
Preparing for 2028 now
While it will be two more years until the actual Congress, the Church invites parishes and Australian Catholics to start preparing their hearts now.
Along with the Holy Hour, parishes have received starter packs with resources and prayer cards.
The prayer cards include the prayer of Eucharist28, emphasizing the centrality of the Real Presence:
Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for the gift of your Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Grant us the grace to receive you reverently, worship you truly, and serve you with hearts renewed.
By the power of the Holy Spirit strengthen us, so that as you gave yourself to the Father and to us, we too may offer our lives to God and to others.
Inspire and help us to serve you in those who are in need, especially the defenseless and homeless, the lonely and lost. Unite us with your sacrifice of the Mass, so that we may truly become what we have received, the Body of Christ. Amen.
The hope is that Eucharist28 will not only be a faith-filled event of prayer, but also a sustained source of Eucharistic renewal. This starts in Australia with years of preparation focused on the Eucharist as the "source and summit" of the Catholic faith.
“No one should be touched by the congress and be unchanged,” Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP of Sydney said, “for no one can experience intimacy with Christ and be the same as before.”
