Young people called to prepare for World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney

Published: 2006-08-01

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The first international World Youth Day to be held in Australia will provide an opportunity for young people to learn about and strengthen their faith and to spread that faith to those "down under" who do not put a high priority on spiritual concerns. That was the message Auxiliary Bishop Anthony C. Fisher of Sydney brought to the United States recently in his role as coordinator of World Youth Day 2008, which will take place July 15-20, 2008, in Sydney. Bishop Fisher said the planning team expects about 25,000 U.S. young people to attend, similar to the number of Americans who went to Germany for World Youth Day in 2005. "But from what they're telling me now, 25,000 may be a very conservative number," the Australian bishop said in a telephone interview from Orange, Calif., after a meeting with Auxiliary Bishop Jaime Soto of Orange, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee on Youth and Young Adults, and other U.S. planners for World Youth Day. In addition to the events in Sydney, young Catholics will be able to experience the pre-World Youth Day activities known as Days in the Dioceses, in which pilgrims stay with families or parishes throughout the host country to learn more about the place they are visiting. In 2008, however, participants in the Days in the Dioceses might stay in Australia or New Zealand.

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