BRISBANE archdiocese will play a major welcoming role for international pilgrims when Sydney hosts World Youth Day in 2008, said a Queensland youth officer who attended last month’s celebrations in Cologne, Germany.
Brisbane Youth and Children’s Ministry development officer Michael Hart, who attended World Youth Day in Cologne as an observer on the Sydney World Youth Day bid committee, said Brisbane was a major point of entry on Australia’s east coast for travellers arriving from Europe and Asia.
He said the archdiocese could expect up to 10,000 young people from across the world to descend on Brisbane in the weeks leading up to World Youth Day.
Mr Hart said Brisbane was a great place for pilgrims, both foreign and homegrown, to start out on the journey to Sydney and World Youth Day.
He said the archdiocese would need to make a significant investment in planning and preparing for World Youth Day 2008.
The arrival of the World Youth Day Holy Year Cross 12 months out from the event will signal the beginning of preparations for festivities.
He said the Queensland pilgrimage to Sydney in 2008 would probably be bigger than any previous group.
