UGANDA: Over 145 Ugandan youths to participate in the 2016 World Youth Day celebration
With exactly one week to go for the 2016 World Youth Day (WYD) celebration, over 145 Ugandan youths, who include young adults and their chairpersons, have confirmed participation in the event set to be held in Krakow, Poland from July 25-31, 2016.
The delegation will leave for Poland in groups by Ethiopian Airline on Tuesday July 19 after the flag-off ceremony at the Catholic Secretariat by the Bishop Chairman of the Lay Apostolate Commission, Rt. Rev Paul Ssemogerere who will accompany them together with Rt. Rev. Sanctus Lino Wanok, Bishop of Nebbi.
The week-long event will run under the theme, “Blessed are the Merciful, for They Shall Receive Mercy” extracted from Mathew 5:8.
The National Youth Coordinator of the Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC), Joyce Zako said,
“This event offers a unique way for the youth to deepen their faith and grow closer to Christ, by means of prayer and the sacraments, together with thousands of other young people who share their interests and ambitions.”
The pilgrims travelling to Poland include the representatives from the Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC) and groups from the dioceses of Arua, Nebbi, Gulu, Lira, Kampala, Kiyinda-Mityana, Masaka, Kampala, Jinja, Lugazi, Tororo, Fortportal, Hoima, Mbarara and Kabale.
Pope Francis will preside over the Holy Mass at the event. This will be the second time in his Papacy for the Pope to officiate over the international WYD celebration. The Holy Father led the last edition in 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil just a few months after his election.
According to the organizers, this year’s event is expected to bring at least two million youths from 187 countries who will be accompanied by 47 cardinals, 800 bishops and 20,000 priests.
During the week of WYD, there will be a number of agendas including a welcoming ceremony, a Friday Stations of the Cross with the pope, catechesis, devotions and reconciliation activities, and myriad smaller activities including everything from tourism to cultural exhibitions to Christian music concerts.
The most emphasized and well known traditional theme is the unity and presence of numerous different cultures. Flags and other national declarations are displayed mainly among young people to show their attendance at the events and proclaim their own themes of Catholic Faith. Such is usually done through chants and singing of other national songs involving a Catholic theme.
Meanwhile, young people attending the event will have to walk 18 miles in total to and from one of the key sites. The July 30-31 vigil and Mass, on the fourth and fifth days of Pope Francis’s visit, will require nearly all of the participants to make the nine-mile journey to the venue.
Poland will be hosting WYD celebration for the second time, the first being the WYD held in Czestochowa in 1991.
By Jacinta W. Odongo, Media Officer, Uganda Episcopal Conference
