July 6, 2016

By Marika Donders
Diocesan director of New Evangelization

Later this month, from July 23 to August 1, a small band of young adults will be traveling from the North Country to Krakow Poland to participate in World Youth Day 2016. 

The group consists of eight young people, two priests (Father Bryan Stitt and Father Scott Belina, and me, Marika Donders, the director of the New Evangelization Marika Donders.)    

World Youth Days were started with an international gathering of young people with St. John Paul II in Rome in 1984, who then created an annual event to be celebrated in Rome and locally in dioceses around the world.  International gatherings take place every three years.  Recent World Youth Days have taken place in Toronto (2002) Cologne (2005) Sydney (2008) Madrid (2011) and Rio de Janeiro (2013).

For many pilgrims, the anticipated highlight of the event is the vigil prayer service on Saturday and closing Mass with the Holy Father and millions of other young Catholics on Sunday. 

World Youth Days focus on calling young people to mission in the Church, encouraging them not to be afraid to go out and be disciples.

Many young people have found their vocation at World Youth Days, whether to priesthood, religious life, marriage or simply being active lay people who make a difference in their parishes, dioceses and communities.

World Youth Day is a pilgrimage and as such draws young people to offer their joys and struggles and receive grace upon grace.  

Those who participate in this pilgrimage as young adults continue on their journey of faith the rest of their lives always seeking to encounter Jesus in the Church and in the world, building bridges of faith and trust.

At World Youth Day, the pilgrims meet young Catholics from around the world and realize that the Church is bigger than their parish, their diocese and their own home country.  World Youth Day allows the young people who participate to encounter Christ in each other and truly come to understand the universality of our faith.

The eight young adults in the North Country group are Samantha Bashaw, Leagon Carlin, William Corbett, Anna Fisher, Kevin McCullough, Carter Pierce, Emily Stauble and Lillia Woolschlager.    They have spent the past two years fundraising and preparing. 

The group will gather the night before departure in Schroon Lake in to begin to get to know each other.  Then on July 23 will take a van service down to JFK Airport and fly out to Krakow, Poland.

If you have any prayer intentions that you would like us to take with us, please email them to Marika Donders at mdonders@rcdony.org.

And of course, we would appreciate your prayers for our pilgrims, for a safe journey and a fruitful pilgrimage.  

PS: If the Wi-Fi in Krakow allows, we hope to be able to share photos and updates of our journey as we travel.  Please check the Diocesan Facebook page (facebook.com/dioceseofogdensburg) for updates.