MORE than 1000 young Catholics cheered along to the synthesised rap strains of Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement that World Youth Day 2008 would be held in Sydney, when they converged on the Brisbane Convention Centre on July 16 to launch Brisbane archdiocese’s journey to the international event.
Between multimedia presentations and testimonies from past World Youth Days and performances by the Emmanuel Youth Outreach (EYO) band, Brisbane Archbishop John Bathersby asked the youth to “pray and plan” as they prepare for World Youth Day 2008.
World Youth Day will be held in Sydney from July 15-20, 2008 and is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world. It will also feature the first visit of Pope Benedict to Australia.
The Brisbane gathering was held exactly two years before World Youth Day 2008.
“World Youth Day has the potential to change the country and the archdiocese,” Archbishop Bathersby said in his speech to launch the archdiocesan initiative “World Youth Day 2008: Towards and Beyond”.
He said, in the lead up to the main event in Sydney, many young people from around the world would visit the Archdiocese of Brisbane for a series of events called Days in the Diocese.
This will involve meaningful encounters with the local Church community, cultural activities and visits to local sites of interest, prayer and visits to shrines, and social service projects.
Archbishop Bathersby encouraged parishes, schools and young people to start preparing for 2008.
“It would be marvellous if every parish could assist and sponsor young people, not only Queensland young people but poor young people from within Australia, as well as young people from overseas countries who might not be able to travel to Australia because of their poverty,” he said.
Archbishop Bathersby said if people went to World Youth Day 2008 expecting comfort they would not find it.
“However, you will find fun, faith, solidarity and multitudes of other young Catholic Christians and an experience you will never forget,” he said.
“You suddenly realise it’s cool to believe in Jesus Christ.”
