Tag Archives: World Youth Day

by ADMIN cafod | March 26, 2012 · 12:26 pm

Great generation editor of the month: The Flame congress

For anybody who followed my World Youth Day blogs last summer, you will know how much I enjoyed the solidarity in faith shared between the thousands of other young people attending in Madrid.

The Flame Congress came as close to World Youth Day as I may ever get to experience at home in the UK. The event brought speakers from around the world to Wembley Arena where they spoke around the topics of the Olympic values of excellence, respect and friendship. They weaved their goals of athletic success with their commitment to their Christian faith.

I was particularly inspired by Stef Reid, a Paralympian who has faced diversity after she lost her foot in a boating accident. After questioning God’s plan and turning away from sport initially, she now competes in the 100m, 200m and the long jump. A truly humbling story of courage and living life to the full as God calls all of us to do.

Outside Wembley Arena in ione of the breaks

Outside Wembley Arena in one of the breaks

During the breaks, you could really get a sense of the effect the day was having on everybody.

It was such a joyous (not to mention extremely sunny!) place to be for the few hours we spent together in London. As I looked around the 8000-strong crowd inside the arena, I felt a mixture of emotions.

I was proud to see so many young people standing strong in their faith, blessed that I was able to share such an amazing spiritual experience with them and most of all, I was excited that standing all around me was the future generation of our world who are all called to excellence, respect and most importantly, called to be friends to all. As it was so profoundly put during one of the sessions, “Every stranger is a friend waiting to happen”.

About the author: I’m Michael. I’m a 21 year old maths student at the University of Edinburgh, originally from the Diocese of Hexham & Newcastle. I have been volunteering for CAFOD for around five years and was involved with CAFOD’s fantastic gap year programme Step into the Gap. I attended Flame as I am passionate about young people sharing their stories and faiths with each other. I was left totally inspired by the whole event!

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by ADMIN cafod | September 6, 2011 · 10:54 am

World Youth Day 2011: Love one another, as I have loved you.

It’s been over a week since I returned from Madrid, and I’m still processing exactly what it was that I experienced out in Spain. The entire trip was such an energetic collection of encounters which started off in a small Church in Toledo and culminated in a gigantic open-air Mass on an airfield in Madrid. I was given the opportunity to try traditional foods, learn the Spanish lingo and meet people from particularly obscure countries many of us had never heard of before.

We met people from 46 countries

After setting myself the challenge of spotting CAFOD partner nations, out of the 40 possible, I only managed to meet people from nine of the partner countries – Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria and the Philippines – although I did meet people from a further 36 countries in total. My favourite had to be El Salvador, the nation whose national hero is a CAFOD icon and a strong inspiration of mine for speaking out about civil violence within the country which lead to his assassination in 1980.

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Tagged as El Salvador, greatgeneration, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, oscar romero, Philippines, stepintothegap, World Youth Day, youth action

by ADMIN cafod | August 25, 2011 · 2:03 pm

World Youth Day: the most surreal experience of my life

It is two o’clock in the morning and I am lying on on a concrete runway in Madrid on the sleeping bag I brought all the way from Whitley Bay. I am with one of my good friends from school who I have known for almost a decade, friends I have met over the last two years working with CAFOD and YMT, and people I have only just met this week, and even just this evening. If I am to describe it as one of the most surreal experiences of my life, I wouldn’t be exaggerating.

World Youth Day 2011 Vigil: caught in the rain

About the author– Michael Thompson is a twenty-year old mathematics student at the University of Edinburgh originally from Newcastle. He was involved with CAFOD’s ‘Step into the Gap’ gap year programme in 2009-10 and is passionate about issues of social justice and fighting for inequality in our world.

We arrived this afternoon prepped for the overnight vigil expected to have over a million young people attending. When we arrived, we weren’t quite sure how we were going to survive the night. The temperature was at least 41℃ and it showed no signs of cooling. I was confused – people were risking their lives. We saw one young person being taken through the crowds in a fire engine to get to the nearest first aid tent. I couldn’t understand it; surely Pope Benedict would not want people putting themselves in danger just to get a glimpse ?
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by sdaviescafod | August 20, 2011 · 10:06 am

WYD: The future of the world, commitment of all

Michael helping at the Manos Unidas stall

Mathematician? Check! Loves computers? Check! Campaigning for social justice? Check! You wouldn’t be mistaken if you had just thought I was running through a list of my own interests. Yet, imagine our surprise when myself and my friend Tom met our host families on our first night at the San José Obrero parish in the city of Toledo and discovered that our hosts have lived incredible lives doing the work and studying the subjects which the pair of us have only recently begun to embark upon ourselves.

Antonio Vargas and his wife Maria Antigua Diaz welcomed us into their home during the part of the World Youth Day celebrations known as “Days in the Diocese”. The idea is to stay with host families in order to get a real sense of what life is like being a Catholic in the host country. Tom and I stayed in the bedroom once occupied by their son Alberto when he was younger – a typical Spanish teenager’s bedroom; it differed massively to our own, especially in the fact that each bed had three sets of blankets!

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by ADMIN cafod | August 8, 2011 · 9:54 am

Picture this: World Youth Day – Madrid August 16 – 21

Picture the scene: A hot, sticky August afternoon in a beautiful yet crowded Spanish city. You stand surrounded by a near two million strong delegation of young people representing almost every country on Earth. The atmosphere is electrifying; hearing chatters in different languages, watching people from different cultures trying to communicate and people exchanging tokens, badges, bracelets from their native lands.

Here are just a few of the images that have been promised to me when I attend the World Youth Day celebrations in Madrid this coming summer. From August 16–21, 2011, approximately two million young people are expected to descend on the Spanish capital to join each other and Pope Benedict XVI to celebrate our faith together. On the schedule is music, prayer, guest speakers, plays, and so much more, all topped off with a final celebration of Mass on the last day. Personally, I cannot wait to arrive!

Savio Village rehabilitation and transit centre

Step into the Gap - Liberia

I always think that the only way we are going to achieve peace in our world is if we strike up conversations and make friends with people and World Youth Day (WYD) is an ample opportunity to do just that. In January 2010, I was given the chance to visit Liberia with CAFOD and work with other young people my age. So, imagine my surprise and delight when I log on to the official WYD website and discover three Liberian young people are registered to go to Madrid. In fact, according to the website 46,815 young people from the 40 CAFOD partner countries are expected to be attending the celebrations – wow!

If I’m honest, I’m not really sure what to expect – I’m slightly nervous as to what I may experience, the stories I might hear. Although I have seen first-hand poverty and hunger at its worst in Liberia, I’m not sure how I may feel hearing stories from other twenty-year olds from countries from Asia, South America, even Europe. I just hope I can make friendships because really, twenty-year olds are more than likely the same all over the world – we all have relationships, families, jobs…

So for that reason, why I want to go to Madrid this summer is simple – I am truly looking forward to meeting as many different like-minded young Catholics from around the world. It’s not often we get the chance to meet many other Catholic young people outside of our parishes, schools or universities yet here is an opportunity to really get a sense of how international our faith can be. We all come from different backgrounds – rich, poor, educated, uneducated, access to clean water, you get the idea – but what isn’t so different about us is our commitment to our faith; our passion to praise God.

I am reminded of the scene in the Nativity when all different kinds of people (the lowly shepherds, the rich wise men…) start on a pilgrimage to get a glimpse of Christ. Not only will I get a chance to meet people from around the world, I will also get a chance to pray with them, worship with them, and reflect with them much like the pilgrims did that night in Bethlehem. What better experience could I ask for to really appreciate the feeling of global fellowship and harmony? I don’t think there is one.

If you’re attending the World Youth Day celebrations (or even if you aren’t!) you can follow us on facebook and twitter for the latest news from all of the Dioceses attending the event this August.

Email youth@cafod.org.uk for WYD tattoos.

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