EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 26 June 1926, Page 7

EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS

REUNION OF ORIENTAL CHURCHES (By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Außtraliaii & M.Zi. Cable Association. CHICAGO, June 24. The foremost subject discussed among the Catholic leaders attending the Eucharistic Congress is the reunion of the Oriental Churches. Jt is claimed that ttie latter are absolutely at one with Rome on the question of a. sacrificing priesthood, the Mass, and Holy Communion. Interest is chieliy centred on the Russian Church, whicli is far the greatest separated frun Rome and which, having now lost the support of the state, which historically was the main barrier against reunion, is now free to follow its own choice. in the meantime the Congress ceremonies concluded at Mundelein with the greatest religious spectacle ever witnessed in this or any other country. A singing and praying multitude of a million people gathered from all the lands of I lie earth honoured the Blessed Eucharist in a babel of tongues the like whereof iiad never been before heard in lhe New World. The. gathering banked on either side ;/f a three mile "Via Gloria," circling a beautiful inland lake shattered every existing record in sheer magnitude, the number of persons and the distances travelled and the length of the procession surpassing any similar ovation in history. The vantage points were so densely packed that it was impossible for many to sit down ; so they stood beneath the scorching sun with heads reverently bowed, chanting and praying until the Papal Legate and Cardinals' suites emerged and celebrated a Pontifical Mass After this the huge procession wound around the lake. A striking feature was the orderly attitude of the gathering. There were no protests and no demonstrations. The pel ice traffic experts estimated that 400.000 arrived by trains niter sunrise, and half a million by motors, while 100,000 camped all night and a further 200,000 were unable to enter the grounds.