As Ireland prepares to open its arms to welcome families from across the world to the 9th World Meeting of Families, the 1000th registration for next year’s event in Dublin has just been recorded.
Amongst those registered for the events from 21 – 26 August 2018, are families from Ireland and from 70 countries across the world including: Albania, Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, China, England, France, Germany, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Qatar, Scotland, Spain, Uganda, USA and Wales.
Attendance at all World Meeting of Families 2018 events will require tickets/registration and while some events are free, others will be subject to a fee.
The following categories of registration/tickets are available:
- Individual Adult Registration
- Clergy Registration
- Family Group Registration (any number of adults, any number of children)
- Group Registration (Parish/Diocese, Organisation)
Those interested in attending any of the events are invited to register now at www.worldmeeting2018.ie/en/Tickets.
New weekly podcast from WMOF2018
‘Let’s Talk Family’ is the title of a new weekly podcast from the World Meeting of Families 2018. The podcast features interviews and news about how preparations are going for the 9th World Meeting of Families. The podcast also features discussions about the joys and challenges of family life as we journey towards next year’s event.
‘Let’s Talk Family’ is presented by Brenda Drumm, Media and Communications Manager for WMOF2018.
The podcast can be subscribed to on the Soundcloud app or you can listen on the WMOF2018 website www.worldmeeting2018.ie. The podcast is also available on the home page of the website of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity Family and Life.
With podcast consumption on the rise each year, this is a welcome initiative from WMOF2018.
Volunteers needed for WMOF2018
The World Meeting of Families 2018 will attract thousands of Irish and International pilgrims. Organising it and seeing it through will only be possible with the help of thousands of volunteers.
Approximately 2,000 volunteers gave their time, abilities and service to help organise and run the 50th International Eucharistic Congress which took place in Ireland in 2012. If you volunteered for IEC2012, the team at the WMOF2018 would love you to sign up and be part of next year’s gathering in Dublin. If you have not volunteered before, the WMOF2018 team would be delighted to have you.
Volunteer roles will include stewards, welcoming and information teams, photographers, media support, logistics, programming support and all the general day to day roles involved in running an event like the WMOF2018.
There are currently 1300 volunteers signed up for WMOF2018. The first training event for volunteers took place in Dublin on 19 October. Speaking after the event, Richard Brennan, WMOF2018 Volunteer Project Manager said, “Our volunteers are vital to the success of the World Meeting of Families. We are inviting people to sign up now so as we have time to work with them and to offer them the necessary training to deliver next year’s gathering in Dublin.
“One of the things we are looking for volunteers to do is to help deliver the famous Irish welcome – the Céad Míle Fáilte. So join us. You can sign up on our website, email us at volunteer@worldmeeting2018.ie or you can contact us by telephone (01) 5676800.“
Invitation to design the vestments for WMOF2018 liturgies
The World Meeting of Families 2018 has extended an invitation to students of Irish art and design colleges to submit a creative design for consideration for the vestments that will be used for WMOF2018.
WMOF2018 is seeking a unique and inspirational design for the vestments that will be used in different liturgical contexts during the week of celebrations taking place from 21 to 26 August 2018.
Elizabeth and Lilly Yeats, sisters of the poet William Butler Yeats, crafted vestments used in the Eucharistic Congress held in Ireland in 1932. Their cloth-of-gold creation with intricate Celtic embroidery influenced by Elizabeth’s time in the circle of William Morris are still in use in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin today.
Commenting on the design call, Brenda Drumm, Media and Communications Manager for WMOF2018 said, “This is an opportunity for an up and coming Irish designer to follow in the footsteps of the Yeats sisters by designing the vestments for use as part of the liturgies for next year’s World Meeting of Families.
“The winning designs will be chosen by an independent panel and will feature at the heart of next year’s event which is expected to have an international audience of millions of people.”
You can find out more about the vestment design competition on worldmeeting2018.ie
Pope Francis highlights importance of family in address to (Re)Thinking Europe Conference
Pope Francis recently highlighted the importance of family in his address to participants at a conference on the theme “(Re) Thinking Europe — A Christian Contribution to the Future of the European Project”. The conference, sponsored by the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), brought political and religious leaders together at the Vatican for the high-level dialogue.
Pope Francis said, “The first and perhaps the greatest contribution that Christians can make to today’s Europe is to remind her that she is not a mass of statistics or institutions, but is made up of people.
“Christians recognize that their identity is primarily relational. They are joined to one another as members of one body, the Church (cf. 1 Cor 12:12), and each, with his or her unique identity and gifts, freely shares in the common work of building up that body.
Relationship
Analogously, this relationship is also found in the areas of interpersonal relationships and civil society. By interacting with others, each one discovers his or her own qualities and defects, strengths and weaknesses. In other words, they come to know who they are, their specific identity.
“The family, as the primordial community, remains the most fundamental place for this process of discovery. There, diversity is valued and at the same time brought into unity. The family is the harmonious union of the differences between man and woman, which becomes stronger and more authentic to the extent that it is fruitful, capable of opening itself to life and to others. Secular communities, likewise, are alive when they are capable of openness, embracing the differences and gifts of each person while at the same time generating new life, development, labour, innovation and culture.”