In anticipation of the 2025 Jubilee Year, “Pilgrims of Hope,” the third North American Congress on Mercy (NACOM III) will take place Nov. 15-17, 2024, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Under the theme “Divine Mercy and Mary: Our Hope,” the Congress will be held at Good Shepherd Church, 2250 150 Street, in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver.
“We are excited to bring NACOM to Canada for the first time, and we invite devotees of Divine Mercy from across North America to come to Vancouver,” says Fr. Kazimierz Chwalek, MIC, NACOM III coordinator. “There are spiritually enriching presentations from inspiring, well-known speakers and powerful witnesses to God’s love and mercy; Holy Mass; Eucharistic Adoration; Confession; uplifting sacred music; book signings; and time for sharing and fellowship. Something for everyone!”
But what is a Divine Mercy Congress? Where did they come from?
Cardinal direction
Inspired by St. John Paul II and in particular by his homily during the prayer of entrustment of the world to Divine Mercy in Krakow in 2002, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Austria, began to promote the “message of God’s merciful love so that it be made known to all the peoples of the world.”
For this purpose, Cardinal Schönborn formed an apostolic group called the “Missionaries of Mercy,” whose task was to promote the message of God’s merciful love to all the peoples of the earth and to pass on the the “spark,” lighted by God’s grace, which will prepare the world for Christ’s final coming.
The Missionaries of Mercy and all the promoters of Divine Mercy from around the world were invited to gather in Krakow in August 2005 for a conference retreat. During the retreat (for which Fr. Kaz was present), a “prominent businessman” asked about the possibility of a congress, like the already-existing Marian and Eucharistic Congresses, dedicated to Divine Mercy. The participants requested the establishment of a World Apostolic Congress on Mercy (WACOM). Cardinal Schoenborn brought the idea to Pope Benedict XVI, who wholly supported the idea and mandated that the first World Apostolic Congress on Mercy would be held in Rome.
Cardinal Schönborn received Pope Benedict XVI’s approval in 2006.
The USCCB was among the first episcopal conferences to express their support through its then-president, Bishop William Skylstad.
The first World Apostolic Congress on Mercy was held in Rome in 2008, and personally addressed by Pope Benedict XVI, who gave the Congress participants a “mercy mandate.”
The second was held in Krakow in 2011, hosted by Cardinal Stanislaus Dziwisz, the former private secretary to St. John Paul II. It brought many of the most fervent promoters of Divine Mercy in the world back to where it all began, the final resting place of St. Faustina and the diocese from which the work of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla had paved the way for Sr. Faustina’s cause for canonization to be opened, the Diary published, and a spark to emerge from Poland to prepare the world for the final coming of the Lord (see Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1732).
The third, in Bogota, Colombia, in 2014, hosted by Cardinal Ruben Salazar, traveling from Europe to the New World, bringing Divine Mercy in a special way to a country so long torn by violence and so badly needing the medicine of mercy. The fourth WACOM took place in the Philippines on January 16-20, 2017, and drew such a crowd, the capital was full to bursting. As you may expect, given how Filipinos the world over love and spread Divine Mercy, that was the largest of all the WACOMs so far.
WACOM 5 took place in Samoa, under the theme, “Divine Mercy: The Ocean of Love that Envelops the Whole World,” the first WACOM since the death of Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, MIC, former vice-postulator for St. Faustina’s cause of canonization. Representing the Marians from our province were the Very Rev. Chris Alar, MIC, and Fr. Kaz Chwalek, MIC, among Marian priests from other parts of the world.
WACOM 6 will take place in 2026 in Vilnius, Lithuania, where the original Divine Mercy Image was painted and remains to this day.
Congress in North America
All official local and regional Congresses are affiliated with WACOM, including the North American Congresses.
The present NACOM is the third. The first was held in Washington, D.C., at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in 2009. A regional NACOM was held in Oakland, California, at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in 2015. A second NACOM was held October 21-22, 2016, in Houston, Texas.
Vatican Congress
In 2017, WACOM announced the Holy See was bringing the whole structure of Mercy Congresses under the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. Under the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, that council has since become the Dicastery for the New Evangelization. In article 59, the apostolic constitution says, “§ 2. Evangelization takes place especially by the proclamation of divine mercy, in a variety of forms and expressions. In a particular way, the specific activity of the Missionaries of Mercy contributes to this end; the Section promotes and supports their training and provides criteria for their pastoral activity.”
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