Why World Youth Day matters
Some of the Beloved Group during the World Youth Day in Lisbon
We’ve just come to the end of another World Youth Day, where some 1.5 million people are said to have participated in the week-long event that culminated with a final Mass with Pope Francis on Sunday 6th of August. By all accounts it was a magnificent event! According to some sources it was “the best world youth day yet!”
For those that don’t know, World Youth Day is a week-long festival specifically for young Catholics, who come together from all over the world to celebrate their faith and to have an encounter with both Christ and his Church. It allows young people to deepen their own faith in order to share it in their own homes, cities, universities and workplaces.
Where did it originate?
The simple yet transformative idea of inviting young people to come together, was one of the greatest gifts and inspirations St. Pope John Paul II gave to the Catholic Church and indeed the wider world, when he first initiated World Youth Day. He started by inviting young people to join him in Rome in 1985 for Palm Sunday and then the first international World Youth Day event was held in 1987 in Buenos Aires growing in success and popularity since.
We live in an age where freedom of choice reigns supreme. Yet often we don’t know what to do with all of this ‘freedom’ we have. Often we are left with more questions than answers.
Back in the 80’s, Pope John Paul II saw that young people - those in their teenage years up to their mid 30’s - are at a critical moment in their lives and he acted upon it. He saw that they are hungry to know what to do with their lives and to discover what their mission is.
Knowing you are made for more
Growing up, I remember complaining to my mother that the only other people at Mass in my parish were often very young children brought by their parents or the much older post-retirement age group. I distinctly remember feeling lost and alone as a ‘young person’ at Mass on a Sunday. This is something Pope John Paul II also recognised a few decades earlier. He saw that young people are desperately seeking to find the purpose of their lives. They are questioning the world around them and they have the energy and desire to have a positive impact on the world.
Some might say what lasting change could possibly come from a bunch of young people going away to what is essentially a festival?! What World Youth Day has demonstrated time and time again is that showing young people that they have a purpose in this life and that they are not alone is immensely powerful and leads to a deepening and renewal of their faith. One of the fruits evident today from World Youth Day is seen in the United States, which has now become one of the global leaders in the ‘New Evangelisation.’ Many current religious and priests from the United States cite their experience at the World Youth Day in Denver in 1993, as the catalyst for the discovery of their vocation.
What did it mean for me?
From a personal standpoint, I too can attest to the importance of World Youth Day. Twelve years ago I attended my first World Youth Day in Madrid. I really didn’t know what to expect. I was 21 years old, questioning the world around me and looking for deeper answers to my faith. My experience of the Catholic Church up until that point had been limited to parochial Ireland and I had no idea just how big, how diverse and how beautiful the Catholic Church is.
Leading up to the official World Youth Day, was time filled with prayer, discussion, pilgrimages, social justice projects and concerts. Needless to say, the intellectual debate, discussions and sheer fun with other young people from all over the world was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I was encouraged to ask difficult questions and really seek answers by highly intelligent women and men - religious and lay people alike. I had never before realised that Catholics should be (and are indeed encouraged to be) intellectuals.
The beginning of a journey
So twelve years on how has this experience affected me? Simply put, World Youth Day opened up a whole new world for me. Prior to it, my experience of the Catholic Church was that of someone looking into another room through the keyhole in the door. World Youth Day opened up that door and for the first time an entire world full of colour, beauty and intellectual tradition lay in front of me. There was so much to discover in having a relationship with Christ in His Church and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t realised it until then!
In fact, Pope Benedict XVI’s impression on the impact of World Youth Day sums it up so beautifully. He wrote that at World Youth Day:
“Faith becomes experience and provides the joy of fellowship. Something of an ecstasy, in the good sense, is communicated…let it not be said that this is only a momentary thing. Often it is so, no doubt. But it can also be a moment that brings about a lasting change and begins a journey.”
World Youth Day most certainly began a journey for me that put me on a path to discover more. It led me to many places including Zambia, Berlin, Rome and Malaysia. It has informed my faith, how I live my life and pursue my dreams. It’s brought me to places and people I now can’t imagine my life without! My life is far richer and far beyond anything I could have imagined. It opened my eyes to the vastness and depth of the Church; far bigger and more varied than what I initially thought.
The gift of Christ and His Church
Twelve years later and I am still finding out something new and continuing to grapple with many questions. Have there been slips and falls along the way? Absolutely! Life is still a work in progress with plenty more work to be done!
However, the greatest gift I have received from World Youth Day was knowing that no matter where we have come from or what mistakes we have made, God is always ready to open the door for us to return and begin again. World Youth Day showed me how rich and beautiful our faith is. We have a beautiful home in the Catholic Church; everyone is welcome!
