INFORMATION BULLETIN No 81
OCTOBER 2006
It is not unusual for many of
us to experience some level of frustration, perhaps helplessness, when thinking
about how to engage our young Catholics. We see large numbers in our schools,
but find few of them in Church. Disturbing, it may be, and yet …
World Youth Day 2008
provides a wonderful opportunity to re-focus our hopes for our youth here in
Australia and around the world. For many young folk—and even the not so
young—WYD 2008 is more than just ‘an event’. It promises a conversion of
heart and mind, ensuring a new trajectory for God, for neighbour, and for the
Church. In so doing, it will anchor ecclesially the deep-seated spiritual quest
in the young.
Earlier
this year at the Sydney Clergy Conference, Fr Ulrich Hennes, a key organiser of
WYD in Cologne, insisted that WYD is not just for the youth: “It is also,”
he said, “for the conversion of cardinals, bishops, and priests!” An
engaging speaker, he was particularly compelling and practical when addressing
‘the fruits’ one might expect from World Youth Day.
There
are many reasons for us to be energetically behind WYD2008, not the least of
which is that it begins to address in a unique way something of the awkwardness
we encounter in parish life. Enclosed are excellent reasons to support WYD, from
Bishop Anthony, some priests, and a young layman. WYD will be a rare blessing
for all; let’s support it unreservedly.
With
personal best wishes.
Frank Devoy
Director
Parish
priests by their very nature are generally realistic about pastoral endeavours
as they are often the interface between church ideals and practise. Some
priests have been somewhat wary of past World Youth Days’, perhaps for a whole
host of reasons.
World
Youth Day, however, brings with it marvellous opportunities to evangelise and
touch the hearts and minds of young people in our nation and from around the
world. Particularly that growing number of young baptised Catholics who do not
participate in the life of the local church today. As cynical as we may
have become to these days from afar we do have an once-in-a-lifetime moment to
share a powerful Christian and genuinely Catholic message not only to the young
people of our Church but also to young people in Australia.
In
addition it is hoped it will also be a means of rejuvenation for the whole
Australian Catholic Church. To witness and experience the vitality of the
Church in young people from many different cultures across the world and to
reflect on our own faith and lived experience of Church can only be beneficial
if we enter into this with the right spirit-the Holy Spirit.
Having
sat on the Community's Advisory Committee for Sydney World Youth Day 08 I have
some insight that the logistics and organisation for such an event are huge and
it is critical that all sectors of the Church work together. I encourage
the priests of Australia to assist as much as possible in our already busy
lives! Hopefully the benefits will far outweigh the inconvenience.
Fr
Ian McGinnity
Quakers
Hill
Chairman, National Council of Priests
Fr Tom Rosica, the Coordinator of the 2002 World Youth Day in Canada explains that Pope John Paul II once said to him that World Youth Day was actually a pretext for many other important things. That could seem like a bit of an odd comment, but I think what the Pope meant was that through the World Youth Day event young people are able to engage with the central mysteries of our faith, to connect or reconnect with the Church, and to get involved in the mission of the Church in practical ways.
It’s
an amazing opportunity for priests to assist and mentor these young people in
their journey, and to be renewed themselves as they witness the growth in faith
and action of these young people from around the world.
Fr
Chris Ryan mgl
Coordinator
Journey
of World Youth Day Cross &
Icon
of our Lady in Asia and Oceania
World
Youth Day is an event like no other in the history of the Australian Church. We
will all have the opportunity to experience a great international gathering of
young people; to experience their faith and to share our faith with them.
However, World Youth Day is not simply for the young. It will be a graced-filled
time of enormous potential, an invitation from Christ to all our people to begin
again a profound renewal of parish life. As priests it can be our joy and
privilege to encourage this tremendous gift of the power of the Holy Spirit in
our young, and our young-at-heart parishioners, and to receive it anew in our
own hearts; from this day and many years beyond 2008.
Activ8!
(Acts 1:8 – “You will receive power when
the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.”)
Fr
Paul Winter ofm cap
Coffs
Harbour
I
thought that I was mad going to Köln last year with a group of 40 mostly
indigenous young people from the Kimberley and Top End, especially when I was
freezing during the camp out at Marienfeld with a million people, waiting for
Pope Benedict to show.
Last
week, however, I spent time (travelling to Alice Springs for the celebrations
there) with some of the young people who had been on the Köln pilgrimage. They
were positive, realistic, and encouraging, fired up about faith and church. They
filled my head with stories of others of our group and the continuing influence
WYD is having.
I can only wonder what the result will be with WYD being closer to home! Young people from Balgo have already asked me to put their names down and offered to help prepare others for the experience. I don’t think we will get another opportunity like this to connect with youth of the world, and even those in our own parish!
Fr
Matt Digges
Balgo,
WA
On
its own, WYD is simply an event. And as an event, it is asking of us all a
massive amount of effort, when so many, especially Priests, are already
overloaded to breaking point. But if it is seen as the beginning point of
an ongoing faith formation journey for young people, then it becomes a vital
catalyst for engaging, forming and evangelising many young Australians.
The true fruits of WYD will come from the effort at the grassroots, in parishes
and schools around the country and this can't succeed without your support. So
as one young person, and a representative of many more, please get behind WYD in
your parish and your diocese for the event and its lead-up, but more
importantly, for the period after WYD which will make or break the success of
this effort in transforming the hearts and minds of young people. The young
people of Australia need you.
Mr
Devett O'Brien
National
YCS Worker
My
first experience of world youth day came in Santiago de Compostela Spain, 1989.
There as a 17 year old in the company of 62 other young people from around
Australia I heard the call of Pope John Paul II, "don’t be afraid to be
holy". These words made a deep impression on me and opened up something
within me. I entered the seminary to begin my priestly formation in 1993.
For
me world youth day is a moment where young people can come together to live an
experience of faith. It can be a life changing experience. I have seen young
people finding their call in life, people leaving drugs and alcohol and other
destructive situations, as a result of their pilgrim experience. I believe world
youth day 2008 in Sydney is a great opportunity for priests to see the Church
alive among the young -- to be energised by and to accompany young people in
their lived experience with God. It will be a great event for the Church of
Australia and one that demands the fullest of support.
Fr
Richard Tomelty
Cathedral, Broome
The
recent World Youth Day DVD "get with the spirit" is making quite an
impact around the country and even overseas. The excitement of the young
Austral-ians in the opening scene, when Sydney is announced by the Pope as the
venue, is infectious. As the camera pans back and we see an endless crowd of
young people at the Cologne WYD it hits the Australian viewer that this is going
to be big, very big, in fact the biggest thing the Australian Church has ever
attempted.
The recent "Spirit of Generation Y" report highlights the problem for which "get with the spirit" is the solution. It found that young Catholics are disaffiliating from the Church at an alarming rate. They are not just absent from the pews: an increasing number no longer even identify as Catholics or indeed with God. What are we to do about that?
World
Youth Day is a twenty year plus pastoral strategy for engaging young people in
every aspect of the life of the Church and through them renewing Church and
society. Phase one has already begun: logistical preparations, evangelisation,
catechesis and prayer with our young people. A flashy website and an electronic
pilgrimage. Catechetical materials for schools. Parish and chaplaincy support
materials. Posters and prayer cards. Briefings and national tours. Local prayer
and celebrations. The Journey of the WYD Cross and Icon to every corner of
Australia. The DVD and much else besides. All because WYD is not magic: its
fruitfulness will depend crucially on how well we prepare our young people now.
Phase
two will be in July 2008 when perhaps 150,000 young people from around the world
join a similar number of young Australians for a weeklong pilgrimage of faith
and encounter with Jesus Christ, his Spirit and his Church. This will be a time
for learning about and celebrating faith, for liturgy and catechesis, festival
and fun. Many will come to spend time in parishes in the
"Days in the Dioceses" all around
Australia in the week before. By the end of WYD week well over half a million
are expected to gather with the Pope for his arrival, the Stations of the Cross
through the city, the all-night Vigil and the Final Mass.
All
for what? For God. For our young people. For our Church. In Phase 3 when we will
reap the fruits of World Youth Day in our mission to the future. We pray that
WYD will connect many more young people with life in Christ, will help them
rediscover the Word of God and the sacraments and so strengthen their faith,
will energize them to be witnesses to Christ in a new century. We look forward
to an increase in vocations, reinvigorated youth ministries, and a strengthening
of the Church in all its works. A fresh start for the generation to come.
At
the end of our DVD a young medical student Jovina Graham puts it this way:
"we will be the focus of this Church which is 2,000 years old, that has
seen so many historical events, that has spread so much love and compassion
everywhere, and its going to be focused in Sydney Australia and you will not
want to miss it!"
+Anthony Fisher op
Father Peter Brock’s latest
book:
“YOU MUST COME AWAY: A retreat for clergy and others”
Spectrum Press, available (free delivery) from Catholic Bookshop, Canberra 02 62019888
Email: bookshop@cg.catholic.org.au