Relive IEC memories through new book

The IEC commemorative book was launched last Friday at IEC Pavilion. (CDN PHOTO/ SHIELA GUMAPON)

The public can now relive the memories of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) through the IEC commemorative book, which was launched last Friday.

“Today we launch this book, and we, once and for all, capture in printed form the beautiful memories we have of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress,” said Bishop Dennis Villarojo, secretary general of the 51st IEC, during the launching of the coffee table book last May 28 at the IEC Pavilion.

A Filipino couple who arrived from Jakarta, Indonesia from a Couples For Christ (CFC) event, Mannix and Aileen Ocampo, even bought three of the P2,250 coffee table book, which is entitled “Days of Hope and Glory.”

“One is for us, the other for my brother- in-law and the last for a friend who saw my post on Facebook about the book,” said Mannix, the provincial area head of CFC Cebu, country coordinator of CFC Indonesia, and a member of the CFC board of elders.

The 284-page book contains 14 chapters with 377 photographs from host photographers, and 29 articles from 22 different writers.

All the contents depict the activities of the one- week celebration (Jan. 24 to Jan. 31 this year) of the congress in the city.

“Go through the pages of this book, read the articles and it will bring you memories. Your own memories of exactly what happened,” said Rev. Fr. Joseph Aquino, the chairman of IEC’s documentation committee who headed the book’s creation.

Msgr. Joseph Tan, the 51st IEC media liaison officer, who spoke on behalf of Archbishop Jose Palma, said the buyers are collecting good memories by purchasing the book, and, at the same time, they are also replicating the whole dynamic of the Eucharist, which is a memorial of God’s love and a means for evangelization.

Also present in the event was Archbishop Jose Palma, and the editor-in- chief of the commemorative book, Days of Hope and Glory, Dr. Jojo Bersales of the University of San Carlos Press.

They also headed the signing of 7 of the commemorative books which will be presented to Pope Francis, Archbishop Piero Marini, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto, Archbishop Jose Palma, the National Library of the Philippines and the University of San Carlos.
The book is available at the the Archdiocesan Book Center in Patria de Cebu, the Angel of Peace Store inside the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral and St. Paul bookstores.