Upcoming WYD discussed in Conference of Bishops

From April 10 to13, youth delegates from the various Conferences of Bishops (SEA2- Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and myself with Fr Kune and Fr Patrick from FABC) and Movements met in Rome .

May 02, 2014

By Deacon Adrian Ng
From April 10 to13, youth delegates from the various Conferences of Bishops (SEA2- Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and myself with Fr Kune and Fr Patrick from FABC) and Movements met in Rome for a time to discuss the previous and upcoming World Youth Days and to look at the how we can better reap the fruits of the WYD especially in its integration into our youth ministries.

Pope Francis’ three key words ‘Hospitality, Celebration and Mission’ were recalled. At Rio, the Holy Father had called the young people to be the Hope of the Church, to rebuild the Church. The theme of the World Youth Day and the command of Christ was recalled, Go and Make Disciples of All Nations (Matt 28:19). The Brasilian Church shared that among the many fruit, there was a bolstering of the missionary dimension, eg to the Amazon region.

There followed sharings by representatives from Belgium, Lebanon, United States, Mozambique and Indonesia. Many of them shared about the impact that the Mission Week had on their entire WYD experience. Poland will host the next WYD from July 26th – 31st in Krakow. The country is home to quite a few saints, the most notable being Maximillian Kolbe, Edith Stein and of course, John Paul II, whose canonization would also be a focus this WYD. The theme of the next WYD will focus on the beautitude, Blessed are the Merciful. Other notable sites to visit in Poland are Wadowice (the birth place of John Paul II), Auchwitz (the WWII concentration camp) and Our Lady of Czestochowa.

In 2016, Poland will also be celebrating 1,050 years of having received the faith making it a double celebration. The weather in Poland can be unpredictable- warm sunny or cold rainy - so bring your umbrella or raincoats. The temperature around that time will be around 23 – 30 C. The pre-WYD from July 20th – 25 will be Days in the Diocese (a reversion but the delegates asked that the Mission focus be retained) and 41 dioceses are ready to welcome pilgrims (a booklet was given to each country with details of all the dioceses so if you want a photocopy please write to this post below.) There is a proposal to charge a standard and nominal fee of 5 Euros a day which would roughly mean about 30 Euros. This will be confirmed by June 2014.

The website www.krakow2016.com is already up with information but it will only become developed further once the logo is decided (around June 2014) and the registration process will only open in July 2015. Participants are encouraged to register as early as possible to get better accommodation; there are 4 Zones with the nearest being less than 40 km and the furthest more than 60 km away from Krakow. A unique feature of this WYD is that they will have tent-housing and you can bring your own additional tent. It is recommended that participants be over 18 years old so that they can fruitfully bring back the WYD to their respective diocese. Volunteer registration will begin in June 2015 and the organisers are looking for 6000 people who are multilingual; it is not necessary to be able to speak Polish but knowledge of an international language like English would be required.

The WYD kit will be available from the accommodation sites. The meal credit card system will be retained. There will be only two catechesis in the parish as a third catechesis will be held at the site of JP2 and/or Divine Mercy Sanctuary. The suggested site for WYD activities is Blonia, which is in the middle of the city, but concerns have been raised because as many as 2 million pilgrims may be expected. All throughout the pre-WYD spiritual preparation was emphasised as vital for a fruitful encounter with Christ. We are encouraged to pray the 3:00pm Mercy Hour prayer as preparation for the WYD. The next meeting is said to be sometime in Nov 2015 in Krakow.

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