Closer to each other

Serving as a priest in the rain of bullets and under the observation of the intelligence service – we can meet special lecturers at the International Eucharistic Congress, at Hungexpo.
All the lives of the Archbishops of Rio de Janeiro or Québec or Konstantin Szabó from Transcarpathia are worth testimonies. All three of them will each give a lecture at the Congress.
Orani João Tempesta “the bulletproof Archbishop” has survived two armed robberies and a gunfight between the police and armed people. He celebrated his 66th birthday with the poor distributing meals and clothes to them in the most infamous district of Rio. He desires the Brazilian metropolis to be famous not only for its history and natural beauty but also for the solidarity, which its citizens give to each other.
Gérald Lacroix, the Archbishop of Québec will also be present at the Congress. He served for nine years in Columbia, which was seriously afflicted by the armed conflicts of the guerrilla army. He rode a mule for eighteen hours in the war zone to get to the villages of his parish. “There was no electricity, we lighted candles. The church was full of children, adults, old people who longed to hear the words of God and were happy to pray together” – recalling his memories of his service there.
Konstantin Szabó, comes from a priestly family and will also give a lecture at the Congress. His father was taken to a gulag for five years for his faith. He was prepared and consecrated as a priest in secret in 1986, in Felsődomonya, as he, his family and his teacher were always under observation by the intelligence service. Besides his civil job he had performed the ordinances in secret for years. Nowadays, he takes part in the historical researches of the diocese as the Chaplain of Sislóc and the priest of the Hungarian and Slavic believers of Koncháza.
Beside the above-mentioned participants, the believers and the seekers can find many other interesting lecturers and programmes from the 13th September. Do not forget to registrate for the programmes of the IEC!


IEC Secretariat