Saturday, July 19, 2008

For those that think World Youth Day is nothing more than one big modernist "happy party"

Read this from Whispers on the Loggia

There has been a slight Complaint fest from the more traditional elements. (Not as Bad as I envisioned) If one read this blog one sees that I am a pretty traditional Catholic. However there is room in the Church for all of this. Many very Orthodox Catholcis and Orders have been blogging how they are overwhelmed at the devout nature of the young people there.

Also see WYD - Much More than a "Catholic Woodstock"

For those who mistakingly think that World Youth Day is nothing more than a "Catholic Woodstock" - an excuse for concerts and a big party, there's a big part of the event that's being overlooked. That's the catechesis offered each morning by the bishops of the world.
Every pilgrim is assigned to a catechetical session by a bishop in their own language. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning between 9-12 a.m. the bishops explore the general theme of World Youth Day - the Holy Spirit in three separate sessions.


For example, this morning at the Convention Centre alone, pilgrims will have the opportunity for catechesis from New Zealand Bishop John Dew, Canadian Bishop Thomas Collins, Colorado Spring, Colo. Bishop Michael Sheridan, British Bishop Vincent Nichols, and Australian Bishop Denis Hart. That's just at the Convention Centre. Elsewhere in the city and the suburbs, some as far as an hour outside the city, similar teaching sessions are taking place.
They're often coupled with praise and worship music, prayer, Eucharistic adoration, and an opportunity for the youth to ask questions of the bishop. There is no other place in the world where youth can have such an encounter with so many of the world's bishops. Think of it as almost a kind of Second Vatican Council with the world's youth.
-- Tim Drake


Archbishop Chaput of Denver reminds us of a important fact

TWELVE years ago, the Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary opened in Denver, Colorado. Shortly after, a second training college for priests, the St John Vianney Theological Seminary, opened its doors.
Between them, the colleges taught 108 students last year and there are now about 40 trainee priests studying at the Redemptoris Mater. Since 1996, 10 seminarians from Redemptoris Mater have gone on to become priests in the Denver archdiocese.
According to Denver's Archbishop, Charles Chaput, both schools sprang up as a result of Denver hosting World Youth Day back in 1993
.
They were not the only results. "I'm sure that the World Youth Day in Denver led to thousands of conversions and reconversions (within Denver and elsewhere)," says Chaput, adding that Denver World Youth Day is still "considered a great blessing for the whole church in the US
".

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