PREPARING DISTRIBUTION OF TICKETS

TO YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST CLOSING     

            People from across the Diocese of Brooklyn attending the Oct. 15 observance of the closing of the Special Year of the Eucharist at KeySpan Park in Coney Island will be required to present a ticket and wear a specialized wristband for entry to the event.

            Parish representatives will pick up the tickets and wristbands the first week of October at two sites---one in Brooklyn, the other in Middle Village---for distribution to parishioners who will take part in the historic commemoration.

            The first location will be Our Lady of Hope Church in Middle Village, where the entrance items will be available Monday, Oct. 3, at 8 p.m. St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Flatlands will be the second site on Thursday, Oct. 6, also at 8 p.m.

            Msgr. Francis J. Caggiano, Vicar for Evangelization and Pastoral Life, who chairs the organizing committee for the eucharistic celebration, said his office will begin receiving tally sheets from parishes indicating the number of tickets they are requesting on Sept. 30.

            Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has asked that 35 to 40 parishioners from each of the 216 parishes in Brooklyn and Queens attend the event, whose theme is, “One Bread, One Body, One Family in Christ.”

            Msgr. Caggiano said the number of participants urged by the Bishop from each parish is a minimum, but “there is no maximum, no ticket limit.”

            Several parishes have already registered more than 150 parishioners, he said.

            Parishioners are expected to travel to Coney Island primarily by public transportation or by private buses. As of early this week, parishes had arranged for 150 buses to carry participants.                                                                                                     

            Meanwhile, one parish located close to KeySpan Park has announced plans to organize a procession to the site. Close to 200 members of Guardian Angel Church will walk the 1.1-mile distance along Ocean Pkwy. and Surf Ave., said Msgr. Perfecto Vazquez, the pastor.

            “We will join together in reciting prayers and singing hymns as we walk to the eucharistic celebration,” he said.

            Pope John Paul II proclaimed the Year of the Eucharist last year, and it began in October. It will close this October during the world Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist in Rome. 

In a message delivered early this month, Pope Benedict XVI said the synod would highlight the importance of the Eucharist as “the true treasure of the Church.”

At KeySpan Park, Bishop DiMarzio will be the principal celebrant of the 1 p.m. Mass that will close the day’s program. Msgr. Caggiano said Monday that 137 priests have indicated that they will concelebrate with the Bishop.

Father Caleb Buchanan, parochial vicar of St. Ephrem’s Church, Dyker Heights, will preach the homily, focusing on the day’s theme.

Msgr. Caggiano said that Grassroots, a production company affiliated with Youth 2000 in Brooklyn, has produced a two-and-a-half minute “eucharistic reflection” on DVD that will be shown to the parish coordinators attending the Oct. 3 and Oct. 6 meetings at Our Lady of Hope and St. Thomas Aquinas churches.

Copies will also be distributed to the parishes for use at liturgies, meetings or other occasions that pastors and administrators find appropriate, he said.

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