wyd

Pope Benedict XVI at WYD 2008: “Unity of Faith in a divide world “

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:29:10 +0100

Thousands of peoples, mostly teenagers, from all over the world, including 50 delegates from Cambodia, gathered in Sydney, Australia to celebrate the Catholic Church’s 23^rd

World Youth Day 2008 with Pope Benedict XVI from July 15-10, 2008. The theme of this WYD was “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). The Pontiff reminded the youth to be witnesses of “Christ”, since there are still so many people who have not yet heard the Good News of Jesus Christ, while many others have not recognized in this Good News the saving truth that alone can satisfy the deepest longing of their hearts”, Said the Holy Father. On the arrival day of Pope Benedict XVI at the Royal Renwick Racecourse in the eastern side of Sydney City, about 200,000 peoples were waiting for him for a prayer session.

The Holy Father made a call to be “unity of faith in a divided world and in the middle of a growing secularism”. Unity is of the “essence of the Church”, emphasized the Pope while urging the young people to “resist any temptation to walk away “from it.

“You are already well aware the our Christian witnessing is offered to a world which in many ways is fragile”, the Pope said gave thanks to God for the “great gift” of the Catholic Youth faith.

On Thursday July 17, the Holy Father recommended to believers of all faiths to be concerned about the environmental problem of our planet, urging the young to reject this consumerisms society.”There are scars which mark the surface of the earth such as erosion, deforestation and ocean resources” the Pope said.

The 81 year-old pontiff also have dubbed violence, sexual exploitation and consumerism as “false idols”. He spoke out against the human exploitation and violence produced by the phonographic material made for amusement in movies and on the internet.

The Holy Father met privately at St. Mary’s Cathedral in central Sydney, four victims of sexual abuse by some members of the clergy in Australia, as sign of healing and forgiveness, before leaving Australia. The Pontiff listened to their stories and consoled them. He assured them of his spiritual proximity and proposed to continue to pray for them. He spoke individually with each victim in an atmosphere of “respect, spirituality and of intense emotions”. Pope Benedict XVI said with sorrow in his last homily at St. Mary’s Cathedral “I would like to pause to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and religious in this country”. These sincere words of the Pope gave great encouragement to the thousands of youngsters gathered for this final celebration.

Young people meeting Pope Benedict XVI in Sydney, on July 15-10, 2008 at the World Youth Day celebrations .

Another WYDs took places in Rome, Italy: 1984 and 1985. Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1987. Antigo de Compostela, Spain in 1989. Czestochowa, Poland in 1991. Denver, U.S in 1993. Manila, Philippine in 1995. Paris, France in 1997. Rome, Italy in 2000. Toroto. Canada in 2002. Cologne, Germany in 2005. The next WYD will take place in Madrid, Spain, in the year 2011.

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Cambodia Youth Are Ready for WYD 2008, Sydney-Australia

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:24:48 +0100

By Ly Sovanna

After several meetings of preparation, we are ready for WYD 2008 in Sydney, Australia from July 15^th to 25^th said Father leo Ochoa , SDB the team leader for the young Cambodian attending WYD. Father Leo Ochoa added that “WYD 2008” in Sydney is indeed an extraordinary gift to the Catholic Church in Cambodia.

There will be a group of 50 Cambodians participation in this gathering, including young people, priests and sisters: From the three Church jurisdictions there will be a representation of 24, plus 26 from other group such as: the Salesian Youth Movement, the Marist Brothers’ Young Adult group, Saint Vincent de Paul of Phnom Penh and the Jesuit service group (MAGIS).

Mister Srey Sokhon, 22 a young Catholic from Chum Kiri Parish, of the Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom penh talked to a CSC reporter while applying for Thai Visa in Phnom Penh and said “the great joy of my trip will be to see the Pope and meet the other young people and it will be a good opportunity to learn from them He will bring back that he learns from WYD in Sydney to shere with views and the Church is new, only beginning in 1995”.

Miss Thuem Sinoeut, 22, from the Saint Vincent de Paul group in Phnom Penh told the CSC reporter that, though she has some fears, she is confident that it will be a good experience for her to open her hear and mind”.

Father Ivan Campana of the Yarumall missionaries, and parish priest of kdol Leu parish of the Apostolic Prefecture of Kompong Cham told the CSC reporter that WYD 2008 is great occasion for Cambodian young people to express their life, faith, and love to others. It is also a great time to share prayer and meditation on the word of God, and to be together. He added that the theme of WYD 2008 “Power, witness, holly spirit and youth”, is taken from Acts 1:8”You will receive the power when the holly Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witness”.

Sister srey Socheat, a Religious Cambodian Sister of the Congregation the lovers of the Cross said that we are mot just learning from the other young people but we will show to them our Catholic Church in Cambodian. We are preparing many activities such as Khmer traditional dance, Khmer Traditional dress and songs, Church and Khmer history. We will have an exhibition on the brief history of the Church in Cambodia. We can tell them that the Catholic

Church in dark years of recent history.

World Youth Day International level celebration: 1984 in Rome- Italy with present of late Pope John Paul II, 1985 in Rome-Italy, 1987 in Buenos Aires –Argentina, 1989 in Santiago de compostela, Spain, 1991 in Czestochowa- Poland, 1993 in Denver Unites States, 1995 in Manila- Philippine, 1997 in Paris- France, 2000 in Rome- Italy 2002 in Toroto Canada, 2005 in Cologne- Germany with the present new Pope Benedict XXI, and 2008 Sydney- Australia.

On July 3^rd 2008 a group of 49 Cambodian Catholic Youth will departure to Sydney via Bangkok By Bus.

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Email: sjygkh@gmail.com

Church in dark years of recent history

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:20:20 +0100

On July 3^rd 2008 a group of 49 Cambodian Catholic Youth will departure to Sydney via Bangkok By Bus.

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Email: sjygkh@gmail.com

WYD Delegates Meet Government Official

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:16:49 +0100

Young Cambodian Catholics met a high government official the day before they departed for the 2008 World Youth Day (WYD) celebration in Sydney, Australia.

On July 2 about 30 youths and father Leo Ochoa, leader of the Cambodia WYD delegation, visited Mr. Uch Borith, a secretary of state under the foreign affairs minister, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Father Ochoa told Mr. Borith the delegates to the July 15-20 International WYD celebration are representing millions of Cambodian Youths, the youth delegates, the Salesian priest added, will be “ambassadors of peace” who will forge cooperative links with other youths from around the world. The missioner added that the delegation wanted to visit Mr. Borith to seek his advice and words of wisdom from his experience in promoting peace and international cooperation.

The official advised the youth delegates to understand other cultures, build good relations and promote Khmer culture at the WYD events. He also suggested they invite youths of other countries to come to Cambodia for exchange programs to promote peace and intercultural understanding. He pointed out that Cambodians of different religions live in peace as brothers and sister, and said the country has never had interreligious conflict.

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World Youth Day is making waves

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:14:14 +0100

The Pope and the pilgrims have dispersed, and Sydneysiders return to their daily routine now that World Youth Day has finished. The last week's events have left an overwhelmingly positive impression, both in the Australian media, which had at first been sceptical and focused on clerical sexual abuse, and on the young people returning home. If all goes well the seeds that were planted by Pope Benedict's words, by the young people's confessions, by the catechesis, the Masses and their peers, will grow and bear fruit.

Sydney's Cardinal George Pell wrote in his weekly Australian Sunday Telegraph column that it is a good time to be a Catholic. "Tens of thousands of happy young people make the rest of the population happy too".

"We've accommodated 120,000 pilgrims in our schools, parishes, homes and other venues and served 3.5 million meals across around 400 venues," said Bishop Anthony Fisher OP, after the events. "Although only a week in duration, World Youth Day will resonate in Australian hearts for a long time to come and will forever be remembered in the lives of the young pilgrims."

Australia's newspapers have alternately been surprised that so many young people could be in one place without getting rowdy, drinking or doing drugs and triumphantly saying that the events did not draw quite as many people as had originally been expected. Despite the criticism, the 23rd World Youth Day has been hailed as "a new outpouring of faith" and "a Catholic renewal". According to an Australian Daily Telegraph poll, Sydneysiders have been impressed and made happy by the 220,000 odd young people filling their streets. The general goodwill was noticeable too in the reception of the pilgrims. According to some of the young British pilgrims, out-of-service bus drivers were volunteering lifts for the weary youngsters after the final Mass last Sunday, while others were plying them with Veggiemite and offering cups of tea.

In North Sydney the Sisters of St Joseph are expecting a spike in baptisms this year. Since the Pope's visit they have seen a marked increase in the number of people telephoning up asking about baptism for their children. The Shrine for Blessed Mary MacKillop has had visitors flocking to it. Local newspapers around the world are full of stories of returning pilgrims, touched by the encounter with Pope Benedict, revved up by their experiences and ready to "bring the world to Christ".

A six-year-old boy who had travelled to Sydney with his parents and met the Pope, said: "He looked really good and he was wearing red, white and a white hat. He looked happy too."

On a bitter-sweet note, Senior Constable Gary Hill, the terminally ill policeman whose dying wish to meet the Pope had been fulfilled, lost his battle with cancer on July 20, only four days after Holy Father came to bless him.

The Pope, who is now resting in Castel Gandolfo after the longest journey of his papacy, left Australia on Monday after meeting the volunteers who helped make World Youth Day happen. He thanked them for their work and said: "Your efforts have prepared the ground for the Spirit to come down in power, forging bonds of unity and friendship among young people from widely differing backgrounds, and rekindling their love for Jesus Christ and his Church.

"In the crowds that have assembled here in Sydney we have seen a vivid expression of the unity-in-diversity of the universal Church, a vision in microcosm of the united human family that we long to see. In the power of the Spirit, may these young people make that vision a reality in the world of tomorrow."

Pope Benedict thanked pilgrims and Australians for their part in the "great celebration of what it is to be the Church" as he said his final farewells on the tarmac of Sydney's International Airport.

Having said that he enjoyed the visit to Australia and expressed his gratitude, the Pope thanked Australians for having welcomed both him and the pilgrims from around the world during the World Youth Day celebrations. He extended a special thanks to the families in Australia and New Zealand who had hosted the young people during their stay Down Under.

He said: "You have opened your doors and your hearts to the world's youth, and on their behalf I thank you."

During the speech on the tarmac before he boarded the plane, Pope Benedict praised the young people themselves, whom he called the "principal actors on the stage".

Benedict XVI said: "It is they who have made this a global ecclesial event, a great celebration of youth and a great celebration of what it is to be the Church, the people of God throughout the world, united in faith and love and empowered by the Spirit to bear witness to the risen Christ to the ends of the earth. I thank them for coming.

"I thank them for their participation, and I pray that they will have a safe journey home. I know that the young people, their families and their sponsors have in many cases made great sacrifices to enable them to travel to Australia. For this the entire Church is grateful."

The experiences of prayer and the "joyful celebration of the Eucharist" , he said bore "eloquent testimony to the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit, present and active in the hearts of our young people."

Pope Benedict said: "World Youth Day has shown us that the Church can rejoice in the young people of today and be filled with hope for the world of tomorrow."

Pope speaks to abuse victims Pope speaks to abuse victims

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:09:09 +0100

Pope Benedict XVI met with victims of clerical sexual abuse this morning in a gesture of reparation before leaving Australia.

The Holy Father celebrated Mass with a representative group of those who had been abused by members of the clergy “as an expression of his ongoing pastoral concern”. Although there are no reports of the private meeting that went on between the Pope and the victims afterwards, the Vatican issued a statement which said that Benedict XVI had “listened to their stories and offered them consolation”.

It said: “Assuring them of his spiritual closeness, he promised to continue to pray for them, their families and all victims. Through this paternal gesture, the Holy Father wished to demonstrate again his deep concern for all those who have suffered sexual abuse.”

During a Mass for seminarians and young religious the Pope gave a public and forthright apology for the sexual abuse, expressing sorrow and condemnation and describing it as evil.

His meeting this morning with the victims was planned for the end of the papal visit to Australia in order not to overshadow the World Youth Day events, but criticism over the Church’s handling of the sexual abuse cases has predominated the mainstream media’s coverage of the celebrations

Pope Benedict celebrates the final Mass at World Youth Day

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:25:54 +0100

Pope Benedict XVI expressed his hope that the 23rd World Youth Day would act as a new upper room from which the young pilgrims would leave filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit ready to proclaim the risen Christ.

Speaking to the young pilgrims from around the world at the Papal "final" Mass which was the culmination of the World Youth Day events today, Pope Benedict called upon the young to open their hearts to the Holy Spirit and be like the Apostles at Pentecost.

As sunlight streamed down on the hundreds of thousands of youngsters who have spent the week in Sydney-EWTN estimated some 600,000 souls-the Holy Father said that the days in Australia had shown the Church as it really is.

He said: "Our eyes have been open to see the world all around us truly as the poet says charged with the grandeur of God filled with the glory of his creative Love. Here too, in the presence of young Christians from all over the world we have a living experience of the Spirit's presence and power in the life of the church.

"We have seen the church for the one thing she truly is: the body of Christ, a living community of love, embracing people of every race, nation and country of every time and place in the unity borne of our faith in the risen Lord.

"The power of the spirit never ceases to fill the Church with life. Through the grace of the Church's sacraments the power also flows deep within us like an underground river which nourishes our spirit ...and to the source of our true life which is Christ."

Emphasising the importance of daily prayer he said that the Grace of the Spirit was not something that could be merited or achieved but that we can "only receive as pure gift. "

He said: "God's love can only unleash its power when he is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it to break through the hard crust of our indifference .. our blind conformity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires."

Speaking of the martyrs and missionaries who had given their lives to transmitting the faith, he asked the young people what they were passing on to the next generation.

Pope Benedict asked: "Are you building your lives on strong foundations, on something that will endure? Are you building your lives in a way that opens up space for the spirit in the midst of a world that wants to forget God, rejects him in the name of a falsely conceived freedom? How are you using the gifts you have been given, the power which the Holy Spirit is even now prepared to represent within you?

"What legacy will you leave to young people yet to come? What difference will you make?

"The power of the Holy Spirit does not only enlighten us and console us, it also points us towards the future, to the coming of God's Kingdom. For the magnificent vision of humanity redeemed and renewed we see in the new age promised by today's Gospel. "St Luke tells us that Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of all God's promises, the Messiah who fully confesses the Holy Spirit in order to bestow the gift upon on all mankind. It is the outpouring of Christ's spirit on all humanity is a bridge of hope and deliverance from everything that impoverishes us.

"It gives the blind new sight, it sets the downtrodden free, it gives unity in and thru diversity. This power can create a new world it can renew the fires of the earth..."

A new generation of young Christians is being called to build the new age, Pope Benedict said.

The Holy Father said: "The world needs this renewal. In so many of our societies, side-by-side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is breeding an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair.

"How many of our contemporaries have filled broken and empty systems in a desperate search for meaning, the ultimate meaning that only love can give and this is the great and liberating gift that the Gospel brings. It reveals our dignity as men and women created in the image and likeness of God. It reveals humanity's sublime calling which is to find fulfilment in love. It is close to the truth about men and about life.

"The Church also needs renewal. She needs your faith, your idealism, your generosity so that she can always be young in the Spirit."

After the Holy Father's homily, the pilgrims at the racecourse fell silent for a few minutes, before the Pope presented the Sacrament of Confirmation on 24 young catechumens from around the world.

During the Mass, which was celebrated in a number of languages, including Latin, the Pope prayed the Angelus, reminding the young people of Our Lady's great affirmation of Christ on behalf of all of humanity.

At the end of the Mass the Pope announced that the next World Youth Day in 2011 will take place in Madrid.

"Until then, let us continue to pray for one another and continue to bear witness to Christ. May God bless you all," he said.

Pope Benedict urges the young to answer humanity's cry for unity

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:04:10 +0100

Humanity seeks unity which can be found through the Holy Spirit, Pope Benedict XVI said in his second address to the young World Youth Day people today.

Speaking in front of the tens of thousands of young people gathered for this evening's prayer vigil in Randwick Racecourse, Pope Benedict said that the human soul cried out for unity a fragmented and divided world.

"You are already well aware that our Christian witness is offered to a world which in many ways is fragile. The unity of God's creation is weakened by wounds which run particularly deep when social relations break apart, or when the human spirit is all but crushed through the exploitation and abuse of persons."

Society, he said in his 25 minute-long address, is being fragmented by short-sighted attitudes which ignore the full horizon of truth: "the truth about God and the truth about us". By definition, relativism is incapable of showing the whole picture because it ignores the principles that "enable us to live and flourish in unity order and harmony".

But unity and reconciliation he said could not be achieved through human's efforts alone, but only through God and the Church. Pope Benedict warned that the temptation to create artificial "perfect" communities in the "face of imperfections and disappointments-both individual and institutional".

The Holy Father said: "That temptation is not new. The history of the Church includes many examples of attempts to bypass or override human weaknesses or failures in order to create a perfect unity, a spiritual utopia."

Cardinal Pell celebrates the Opening Mass for World Youth Day

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:02:09 +0100

Cardinal George Pell opened the World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney today with a call to not just to the young people who were there to open their hearts to the Spirit but to all those, young and old, who are lost or in despair.

During the opening Mass in Barangaroo, where hundreds and thousands of young people gathered to celebrate the official beginning of the 23rd World Youth Day, Cardinal Pell opened his homily by citing the parable of the shepherd with the 99 sheep, who went in search of the one sheep that was missing. He called the pilgrims who took part in the Mass the sheep that had already been found.

"I begin by encouraging anyone anywhere who regards themselves as already lost and in despair," he said. Christ is still calling to those who are suffering and in need of healing, he said, not just the faithful, but especially those without religion. Cardinal Pell said the causes of the wounds, be they the emptiness of success, family breakdown, drugs or loneliness were secondary because Christ was calling to all those who were suffering "home to love, healing and community".

Drawing on the reading from Ezekiel (37:1-14), he said that the valley of dry bones should be read as a symbol of hope "for those who say our hope is gone, we are as good as dead. This is never true, as long as we can choose". He said: "As long as we live, there is always hope."

The cardinal then addressed the pilgrims directly, using the parable of the seeds which had been the Gospel reading (Luke 8:4-14) and said that most of those who were present were probably those seeds who had found the furrows but some were those in danger of choking with the weeds of the worries of day to day life.

Cardinal Pell called the young not to sit on the fence or to inhabit no man's land but to open themselves to God and to trust in God. He asked them to pray for an openness of heart, saying that "God will not fail us".

He described the pilgrims as the apostles who had come to the ends of the earth to witness Christ's teaching. Many young people found their vocations at World Youth Day, he said. He also said that he hoped the pilgrims would feel their spirits rise in the next five days and urged them to celebrate the rejuvenation of the faith which called them to open their hearts to the spirit. But he warned the young people not to let their enthusiasm make them "forget to listen and to pray".

At the beginning of the Mass Cardinal Pell greeted the pilgrims in the four official languages of World Youth Day: German, French, Spanish and Italian. He especially thanked the Bishop of Cologne for the support and friendship that the Germans had extended them during the last World Youth Day in 2006. The bishops and cardinals from around the world were vested in red and the Mass was celebrated predominantly in English but the Liturgy of the Word was held in Spanish, French and Italian. The Our Father was in Latin.

During the Gospel Procession, Torres Strait Aborigines danced in front of the Sanctuary as two young people from the Torres Straight brought the Gospel up to them. Together with the young Aborigines, they then presented the Gospel to a deacon in a red dalmatic.