By: Mitzi Saguisag 

The official website for World Youth Day 2008 is www.wyd2008.org. Many dioceses and groups have their own websites for the event, which can be easily found through ‘googling’. You can find WYD material in English on the Vatican website at www.vatican.va/gmg/documents/index.html 

Come July 15-20, tens of thousands of young people will converge on Sydney, Australia, for the 23rd World Youth Day. Among them will be two delegates from the Philippines, Gelkoff Calmerin and Father Jude Genovia SSC. These two may represent two distinctive groups that can be found during World Youth Day celebrations, the youth and the clergy who accompany them on pilgrimage. Together they show a glimpse of the future of the Church.

Gelkoff, better known as ‘Geff’, is currently a Respiratory Therapist Reliever, having graduated in 2006. He is also a member of the Buklod Cultural Center, which is a center for study by Buglas Foundation. The Buklod Center is run by members of Opus Dei and is a meeting place for the formation of young men. This formation plays a big part in Geff’s involvement in the 23rd WYD 2008 since he hopes to join five other members. WYD 2008 will be his first WYD experience.

In contrast to this, Father Jude, who is currently the Vocations Coordinator for the Society of St Columban here in the Philippines, will attend the 23rd WYD 2008 as a ‘veteran’ since this will be his second World Youth Day experience. His first experience was in 1995, when Manila played host to the 10th WYD. While Geff receives spiritual formation through his Spiritual Director whom he meets once a week, Father Jude is in the position of being the giver of spiritual guidance to the young men who seek to discover their particular vocation in life. This is one of the main reasons for his attendance at the 23rd WYD in Sydney, Australia.

What they hope to find

Both Geff and Father Jude expect to meet new people, interact with different cultures and learn from the experience. Father Jude has set his sights on interacting with young people and challenging them to look at and consider options to be full-time participants and witnesses to the missionary aspect of the Church. He looks forward to accomplishing this through his participation in the Vocations Expo set to run throughout the WYD celebrations. His attendance at the Vocations Expo is at the invitation of the Columban Vocations Director of Australia, Fr Pat McInerney, a veteran of the Columban mission in Pakistan. At the Vocations Expo, Father Jude and members of other missionary societies and congregations will be on hand to give away materials, answer questions and share their missionary experiences with the numerous pilgrims who will be at the different activities of WYD 2008.

I hope Geff finds his way to the Vocations Expo. For other than the hope to shake the hands of the Pope along with learning more about the Catholic Faith and hearing the Pope’s special message to young people, Geff hopes to hear in a clearer way, the path God wishes him to take, the vocation God has specially for him. Wouldn’t it be apt if in his search for an answer, the Spirit led him to Father Jude’s tent?

The Holy Spirit will surely be present during the 23rd WYD 2008 for the following Scripture passage is the WYD 2008’s theme, ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses’ (Acts 1:8). A renewed power to witness is what both Geff and Father Jude hope to bring back afterwards. Both wish to bring back a greater fervor to be witnesses to the Church’s call to be missionaries, witnesses, challengers and guides to the myriad of young people unable to join them in Sydney, Australia.

As of this writing, both are praying intensely on top of their practical preparations for going ‘Down Under’.

Let us join them in praying for the intentions of the Pope, for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit to renew the zeal for mission and for ourselves that we become full participants in this call to be Christ’s witnesses. As Geff puts it, he hopes that this event, WYD, will not just be a part of history but part of the future.’

FUN FACTS ABOUT WORLD YOUTH DAY

World Youth Day is the Roman Catholic Church’s gathering festival for and with young people. It offers young people aged 16-35 an opportunity to meet with their peers from across the world and to deepen their faith.· In 1984, Pope John Paul II announced 1985 as a Jubilee year for the Catholic Church. To recognize the growing number of youth in the Church, he invited them to travel to Rome and gather with him in Saint Peter’s Square for Palm Sunday. Then he declared that day to be the first World Youth Day. From that year forward, there have been World Youth Days each year at both international and diocesan level.·

Although the name implies a day, World Youth Day actually extends over one or two weeks. Typically, a WYD on an international level is over a two-week period and is divided into two sections. The first week exposes those who attend to functions in the host and neighboring dioceses. The second week consists of the actual events. ·

Pilgrims have two options when traveling to a WYD. Many youth will make their lodgings in hotels throughout the city, but this can hinder those with financial disabilities. To offset this monetary boundary, many churches, during the entire two-week time period, allow registered pilgrims to stay in their facilities. Gymnasiums, meeting halls, and even the church itself are converted to rows of cots giving the pilgrims an even different experience. (http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring03/Schmadebeck/history.htm A look at Past and Future World Youth Days)·

The 20th World Youth Day 2005 on August 16-21 in Cologne, Germany was the first World Youth Day and foreign trip of Pope Benedict XVI, who joined the festival on August 18. This meeting was decided by the previous pope, John Paul II, during the Toronto World Youth Day of 2002.·

At least 1,000 Filipino youths will go to Australia this July to join an estimated 500,000 youth along with Pope Benedict XVI. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said that some 180 youth groups will join the WYD.