WORLD YOUTH DAY 2013 : Rio…On our way !

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At a place called Rocca di Papa, 30 kilometers from Rome, from March 28th to April 1st, the first international preparatory meeting was held in view of the upcoming World Youth Day. 

At the invitation of the Pontifical Council for Lay People, brothers Régis and José, delegates from the Assumption family, made their way to the International Center of Oblate Spirituality (OMV) for the meeting that had as its theme “Rejoice in the Lord always!” (Philippians 4:4)

Surrounded by a beautiful Spring landscape, representatives from different Congregations and Church Movements (300 from 98 countries) began to prepare RIO 2013, the 28th World Youth Day. The delegates gathered simply and fraternally to begin working already now on the 2013 event, in which young people will be invited to play their role in a youthful and living Church and to be witnesses to Christ in every part of the world, following the theme “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” (cf. Matthew 28:19)
 
There were three parts to the program. A first focused on the evaluation of the Madrid World Youth Day by Cardinal Antonio Rouco Valera. Then, the group enthusiastically turned their attention to Rio, the city chosen for the next youth gathering. WYD 2013 will be the first of three major events to be held in Brazil, before the World Soccer Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympic Games in 2016. For WYD, Brazil responded with great joy and courage to the Church’s call. The Brazilian delegation presented itself with color and samba rhythms. The Archbishop of Rio de Janiero, Bishop Orani João Tempesta opened this second part of the gathering with an explanation of what all of this kind of gathering meant for the diocese of Rio de Janeiro.
 

The third part of the program centered on youth formation. The conference of Fr. Fabio Attard on “youth ministry and current pedagogical challenges” was preceded by presentations from different youth movements: Scouts, Comunione e Liberazione, MEJ, etc. The meeting concluded at Saint Peter’s square, with Palm Sunday Mass presided by Pope Benedict XVI, on the occasion of the 27th World Day of Youth.

Br. José, a.a.