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Final preparations under way in the RDS today Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

Eucharistic Congress abandons plans to screen Euro 2012 games for pilgrims

Bad news for faithful Ireland fans as thousands descend on Dublin for the landmark Catholic event.

BAD NEWS FOR faithful football fans attending the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin – organisers have abandoned plans to screen Ireland’s Euro 2012 matches at the event.

Earlier this year, the organising committee said that temporary screens would be erected so pilgrims could watch Ireland’s progress in Poland and Ukraine.

But a spokesperson for the Congress told TheJournal.ie today that this would not be the case. She said that while the match against Croatia “may be shown within one of the [congress] venues]”, it would not be an official screening.

There’s no specific plan for a large screen to be constructed. Tomorrow’s events finish at 5pm so a lot of the pilgrims will be home in time for the game.

Roughly 20,000 people are expected to attend tomorrow’s opening ceremony in Dublin. Around 7,000 pilgrims are travelling to the Congress from overseas, according to organisers. Most have already arrived yesterday, or are due to arrive today.

Organisers described the IEC’s site at the RDS as “a hive of activity” ahead of the opening.

“We’re really putting the final preparations in place,” spokesperson Aoife Connors said.

We’ve got the main stage constructed at this point. There’s lots of colour and lots of activity -the exhibition space is being built, the prayers spaces are being builts and at Simmonscourt we’ve got lots of pilgrims arriving to collect their packs and passes.

The Congress has attracted pilgrims from 123 countries for events beginning tomorrow at 1pm. The opening ceremony will be broadcast live on RTÉ One.

The climactic event of the IEC will take place in Croke Park on Sunday June 17. Almost 80,000 tickets have been sold with only a few seats remaining in the topmost stands, Connors said.

Read: Ticket sales “going great” for Eucharistic Congress>

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34 Comments
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    Mute Liam Byrne
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    Jun 9th 2012, 12:49 PM

    Hilarious and embarrassing that people are actually going to it.

    90
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    Mute John Tierney
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    Jun 9th 2012, 12:56 PM

    Maybe they feel the same about those going to watch the euro 2012. Each to their own, live and let live.

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    Mute Richard Lennon
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    Jun 9th 2012, 1:11 PM

    Joe Duffy is going and hes allways right.

    36
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    Mute Frank Comments
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    Jun 9th 2012, 12:56 PM

    if Jesus were alive, he would be going to the pub to watch the footie. And that’s a fact!

    88
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    Mute James Lawlor
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    Jun 9th 2012, 4:07 PM

    If Israel were in the finals I’d bet he would rise from the dead dress up in blue & white with an inflatable crucifix and head off for Poland/Ukraine on his donkey.

    14
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    Mute Martin Grehan
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    Jun 9th 2012, 12:38 PM

    Cancelled so they can meet to discuss systematically covering up child abuse. They never let priests have any fun :(

    74
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    Mute JayK
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    Jun 9th 2012, 1:04 PM

    They let them off with that child abuse thing.

    52
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    Mute Sarah Boland
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    Jun 9th 2012, 2:17 PM

    Ha ha another big con. Sheep never learn. No wonder they end up as the dogs dinner.

    20
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    Mute Paul Mac
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    Jun 9th 2012, 1:29 PM

    Small minded bigots? Don’t make me laugh. You’re talking about a Church that denigrates women, discriminates against homosexuals, and abuses children. And you have the balls to call other people bigoted?

    I do know more than the Church: I know that women and homosexuals should have the same rights as I do. The right to live their life as a valuable contributing member of society without fear of being targeted and discriminated against because of their gender or their sexual orientation.

    The Church however teaches that these people are sinners and dangerous to society because a book that was written two thousand years ago tells them that it is so. And us “fools” are closed minded? Hah!

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    Mute Martin Grehan
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    Jun 9th 2012, 4:07 PM

    I believe they don’t like masturbation either. Like……come on :D

    19
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    Mute Irelands Owen
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    Jun 9th 2012, 1:02 PM

    So many small minded bigots on here. The Eucharistic congress is a wonderful occasion and if people had any depth or spirituality then they’d appreciate it more. Unfortunately Ireland is full of fools who feel they know more than the church. Their closed minds make me laugh.

    47
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    Mute Martin Grehan
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    Jun 9th 2012, 1:05 PM

    “feel they know more than the church”. I’d say I was 6 years old when I realised that in fact I did know more. The Church is an organisation that has systematically repressed the people of this country over the course of centuries. They’ve covered up horrific crimes against children and adults. The Church in other countries is just as bad, I’m reading a book about the Spanish Civil War and some of the stuff the Church got up to there before the War is horrific.

    You confuse an attack on the Church as an attack on Catholics. I’ve no issue with anyone having faith or following a certain relgion. I don’t understand it but I respect a person’s freedom to believe. It’s the systematic coverup within the hierarchy of that organistation people have issue with.

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    Mute Ru Ni Digs
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    Jun 9th 2012, 1:27 PM

    Well Ireland’s Owen,if you don’t like it,forgive them. Also by saying “Unfortunately Ireland is full of fools” isn’t very Christian,now is it ???

    44
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    Mute Sarah Boland
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    Jun 9th 2012, 2:25 PM

    The Irish are becomming more educated by the day that is why that foreign organization is losing members of its flock on a daily basis. We must realize there will always be one or two that go on believing in santa untill they are told otherwise and we must not ridicule them. It is not their fault they were protected by their oldfashioned parents from the real world. A clever sheep will try and escape. A dopey sheep will stay with the flock and board that big lorry with the others straight for the slaughter house. ha ha. yum yum. Good food and best wine in the vatican whilst the eejits put their money in a basket.

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    Mute Sarah Boland
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    Jun 9th 2012, 2:28 PM

    If you think that Ireland is full of small mined bigots why dont you go and live elsewhere. Maybe in the vatican with all the P………

    21
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    Mute Stephen Kearon
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    Jun 9th 2012, 2:34 PM

    ‘wonderful occasion’? It’s an embarrassment to this country. Catholic church punishes those who interfere with its money yet shields those who interfere with children!

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    Mute Unitedpeople Ireland
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    Jun 9th 2012, 4:02 PM

    @ Stephen Kearon

    …Not to mention the 1.5 billion bill they have left the state with (thats you and I) to pay to the victims of the organisations perverts – one they like Brady, could have done more to stop them …but didn’t!
    Just pressurised and made kids swear to silence instead!

    Anyone that supports an organisation that did that alone, is an blind, stupid following idiot!

    18
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    Mute Mick Togher
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    Jun 9th 2012, 4:30 PM

    this proves the brainwashing point

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    Mute Gabriel McManus
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    Jun 9th 2012, 11:16 PM

    “Unfortunately Ireland is full of fools who feel they know more than the church”

    Says the guy oompa loompa outfit.

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    Mute Shanti Om
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    Jun 10th 2012, 2:43 AM

    Hmmm.. Closed minds and yet you claim that if people were more spiritual they’d appreciate it..
    Isn’t that kind of a contradiction? You forgot about all those other spiritual people who aren’t catholic..

    Mind you, that’s not your fault.. Those scriptures do sorta imply that those who do not accept Jesus as their saviour are heathens doomed to hell. We must accept it as absolute truth, we must! Because there are no other gods, everyone else is wrong.. This book, written by men, claims to be the word of god.. Who can argue with that? Absolute authority, over something no one can ever really prove or disprove..

    Only problem is, all the stories in biblical scripture appear many times before the time period that scripture is supposed to have been written. And unlike the bible, they come with far more logical stories.. Like Yahweh and Adonai being two different people, and there being a race of Adams rather than just one.. (no split personality disorder for god and no incest / bestiality for Cain)

    And yet you call others closed minded and lacking any spirituality.. How much have you looked outside of your own beliefs? As in, really challenged them?

    9
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    Mute Derek Larney
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    Jun 9th 2012, 1:52 PM

    @Irelands Owen- you call us non-believers small minded yet it was your Church’s small mind that put humanity back thousands of years by ruling that the earth was flat with zero evidence to back it up.

    As a result exploration and global trade didn’t truly begin till the 1500′s despite ships being invented many millennia earlier.

    And to add insult to injury it took your Church 300 years to apologies to Gaileo for suggesting that the world wasn’t flat. It took them 300 long
    years to admit they were wrong. Now that’s small minded.

    36
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    Mute Unitedpeople Ireland
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    Jun 9th 2012, 5:43 PM

    They never even apologised to Darwin for the 150+ years of grief they gave him either.

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    Mute Robert Coonan
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    Jun 9th 2012, 1:50 PM

    Bet if it was that Craggy Island over 70s 5 a side they’d show it. Down with this sort of thing!

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    Mute Rommel Burke
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    Jun 9th 2012, 2:11 PM

    Jesus saves!…….but Keane buries the rebound…..(well not at congress) lol ;)

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    Mute Dermot D
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    Jun 9th 2012, 5:58 PM

    I agree entirely with all the criticism thrown at the Catholic Church. Personally I think it’s an organisation rotten to the core and I’d love to see the back of it. But, the truth is for some reason which I can’t understand 84% of Irish people describe themselves as Roman Catholic. Also, I know plenty of 20 or 30 somethings who claim to be liberal, almost anti-Catholic and would agree with a lot of the comments on here, yet when it comes to getting married they just love a good Catholic wedding and when they have their kids, they have to be baptised (if it helps them get into a good Catholic school) And while the kids are in the Catholic school, they may as well make their Communions (because you wouldn’t want them feeling left out and sure there’s no harm in it). And when they eventually die, I’m sure there will be a Catholic priest who never met them singing their praises.

    At what point are people going to end their ties with the church? How long are we going to pretend we’re over them but then bizarrely want them involved in the most important events in our lives? Is it a case of Stockholm syndrome?

    21
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    Mute Antóin O Cinnéde
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    Jun 9th 2012, 6:07 PM

    The ould bandwagon must be nearly full now with all the people hopping on it today. I do have major issues with the church in general and I would also be an Atheist. But I am not so closed minded to recognise that at local level the church can provide both practical, and emotional solace for some people. We all think we are so clever on our secular high horse laughing at people with a bit of faith. If you oppose the church grand, but we supposedly live in a tolerant democracy, let people alone with their faith if it helps them.

    It really annoys me when people speak of tolerance for everyone but when it comes to Catholics they become some of the most bigoted people around.

    18
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    Mute Dermot D
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    Jun 9th 2012, 6:16 PM

    Fair point. There are quite a few atheists that seem to enjoy ridiculing people of faith but I think they’re in the minority.There’s a difference between people believing in some higher being and those who actively support an organisation like the Catholic Church. I’d be as critical of any organisation and its supporters who consider child abuse to be acceptable, who consider women to be inferior and who consider homosexuality to be an abomination.

    11
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    Mute Antóin O Cinnéde
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    Jun 9th 2012, 8:05 PM

    I would agree with much of that sentiment Dermot. As a whole I think the church has done more bad than good for the country not only due to the abuse but also the intellectual stranglehold they placed on the nation.

    However I think some very good priests such as Fr McVerry and the Brothers who give out the food parcels, do genuinely represent “Christian values” and even some local priests can be great community activists etc. I have also had some very interesting philosophical discussions with surprisingly liberal minded clergy.

    I think its fair for people to be totally opposed to Church, but I feel the irony is lost on people who talk about respecting difference in one breath and in the other call people of faith “sheep” or “ignorant” or whatever.

    6
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    Mute Silent Bob
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    Jun 9th 2012, 3:50 PM

    “Lighthouses are more useful than churches” as Benjamin Franklin once observed. However it would seem as if many of us here are preaching to the choir…there is little place in our lives for organised religion for so many reasons including church and state collusion and cover up, lack of relevance and lack of ignorance. However should we not support the right for all to actively engage in their religious beliefs providing these beliefs do not negatively impact on society? All faiths should be accountable for their actions and not seek to hide behind their interpretation of law. Personally, I find the coverage of this gathering on state media to be inappropriate.

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    Mute Martin Grehan
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    Jun 9th 2012, 4:08 PM

    Coverage is fine. The fawning sort of coverage RTE will produce will of course be extremely biased. It’ll be akin to the Jubilee in Britain, no room for dissenting voices.

    20
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    Mute Unitedpeople Ireland
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    Jun 9th 2012, 5:44 PM

    It’s RTE – only to be expected.

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    Mute Sean Slevin
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    Jun 9th 2012, 9:00 PM

    If somebody wishes to go to this event and exercise their right to their faith then who has the right to deny that or ridicule them?
    I read some comments here ridiculing the beliefs and all coming from those who are as ignorant as the next person as to the meaning of it all.
    We are all here existing on this mortal coil each as ignorant as the next.
    Live and let live.

    7
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    Mute Thomas Mc Grory
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    Jun 9th 2012, 9:40 PM

    AC DC are playing tonight, followed by Pink Floyd, singing hey teacher leave those kids alone……

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    Mute Irish Eamonn
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    Jun 10th 2012, 4:41 AM

    They are not welcome.

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