STORY - "Eucharist is a happening thing."
By Tracey Edstein.

A key event of the diocesan celebration of the Year of the Eucharist was the “Mystery of Eucharisting” Symposium presented by the Redemptorists of the diocese in May and featuring Fr Kevin O'Shea CSsR. Fr Kevin is a renowned theologian of international stature - and was the last priest ordained at the former Redemptorist Monastery, Mayfield.

His approach to the topic of Eucharist was to begin to remove the boundaries, beginning with what he called the “taken for granteds” – traditional beliefs that are familiar but do not tell the whole story. His purpose was not to disparage these beliefs, but to enrich his audience's understanding of this central tenet of Catholic faith.

As the symposium title suggests, Fr Kevin sees ‘Eucharist' as a verb. “The Eucharist is primarily and principally an action. Do this is more important than this is my body .” Further, “The Eucharist makes the church, and makes the whole church community make Eucharist”. Having two days to invest exploring these concentrated notions was luxury indeed!

Participants, including diocesan clergy and religious, and leaders in various areas of church life, found the symposium intense, challenging and at times provocative. Felicity Lee said, “I always enjoy Kevin O'Shea's workshops. And they are work shops because he stimulates you to think in new ways and to re-think old ways, and that is hard work! He is also very affirming of the ordinary lived experience of lay people who, he says, come to profound and correct theological understandings just through their love of God and their life response to God, something not always publicly acknowledged by church hierarchy.”

Perhaps the most challenging aspect was the suggestion that Eucharist does not actually happen while there are hungry people. Fr Brian Mascord highlighted this: The thing that struck me most of all was the call to Eucharist as a commitment to the poor. As Kevin O'Shea pointed out, in the Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1397, "The Eucharist commits us to the poor." In light of this our Eucharistic celebrations are no longer the realm of private devotion but rather a dynamic call to service based on the example of Jesus. Why do we celebrate Eucharist when the poor are so evident in our midst? Why we do not challenge authorities who continue to promote a wealthy society at the cost of the poor? Our recent budget comes to mind...”

A key insight was a Eucharist ethic of gratitude, and there was certainly a prevailing sense of gratitude among those who attended the symposium, and a hope that there would be further opportunities to learn how to make Eucharist a verb as well as a noun. As Sr Patricia Egan, congregational leader of the Sisters of St Joseph said, “ Pastoral councils who are really committed to ‘leadership for mission' would benefit enormously from listening to Kevin O'Shea's insights into the God who has been revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Kevin is able to share his scholarship in a way that can be readily understood by his listeners in terms of their own life experiences.” 

You may like to visit http://rel-ed.acu.edu.au/mre/oshea/index.html

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