Dear Editor
Billed as the largest youth gathering of any kind in the world, the Catholic youth rally World Youth Day (WYD) began on July 15 in Sydney Australia. To date, there have been ten World Youth Days, an event which was started by the late great John Paul II back in 1986. The message of this WYD is taken from Acts 1:8 which states, “”You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses”. The last WYD was held in Cologne, Germany. Toronto also hosted a WYD event in back in 2000. Of course, the spiritual head of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, arrived in Sydney last Sunday, July 13 and presided over the mega- Masses within the event.
Of course, an event of his magnitude did have critics. Hundreds of anti- Catholic protestors headed to Sydney this past week to protest the Church’s stance on moral issues such as abortion, etc. They also distributed condoms to the pilgrims that attended the mega event.
About a quarter of a million persons registered from all over the world to attend the event. Nearly 500,000 persons attended the final closing Mass at Randwick Racecourse yesterday with another 200,00 watching the event from Centennial Park. One hundred and sixty- eight countries participated in this year’s WYD.
Records show that 65,000 visas have been granted for foreigners who require same can attend the gathering in the “land down under”.
Our diocese did not send any person or contingent to WYD 2008 in Sydney. It costs approximately $1M for one person to attend WYD from Guyana. I was reliably informed that the Diocese of Kingston Jamaica sent approximately thirty- eight pilgrims to this year’s WYD. The Catholic Youth Secretariat in Trinidad also informed me that they have sent thirty- eight Trinbagonians (Trinidad & Tobago). Grenada and Dominica both sent two delegates each. It’s so surprising that those small islands sent so many persons. It is still very good that our Caribbean region is well- represented at this large global gathering of Catholic Youths.
I tried to get a comment from the Catholic Youth Commission here in Guyana through their website but up to the time of ending off this letter, there was no response. That doesn’t mean we’re left out of all the excitement. Follow the events of WYD 2008 at the various internet website links: http://www.usccb.org/wyd/; www. wyd2008.org/. Of course, American- based Catholic Radio and TV Channel EWTN is there and covering the event with a North American twist. Visit www.ewtn.com for more information.
At the closing Mass last Sunday, the Holy Father announced the venue of the next WYD in 2011 and Madrid, Spain to be the host city.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
