World Youth Day (WYD) is the largest youth event in the world and will be held in Sydney from Tuesday 15 to Sunday 20 July 2008.Pope John Paul II established WYD in 1986 as an annual event to reach out to the youth of the world. He was inspired as he witnessed massive gatherings of young people in Rome celebrating the Youth Jubilee in 1984 and the United Nations International Year of Youth in 1985. He wanted to bring together young Catholics from around the globe to celebrate and learn about their faith on a more regular basis.Pope John Paul II saw WYD as away to reach out to the next generation of Catholics, to demonstrate confidence in them, to rejuvenate the Church and ensure that the core teachings of Christ are transmitted and lived. The first World Youth Day was held in Rome in 1986 on Palm Sunday. Every two to three years, World Youth Day is taken to an international host city. The international World Youth Days are a weeklong series of events attended by the Pope and hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world.Father Rusk Saburo and the Catholic youth will take part in the WYD 2008 activities along with Catholic youths from other countries. They will have an opportunity to meet with Pope Benedict the XVI, as he would say Mass on the last day of the WYD.The Palau Catholic Youth are actively raising funds for the trip. On Saturday, June 21, the group will hold a fundraising event at the Palau-Japan Bridge (Koror side) from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The fundraising event will host a live band concert featuring local artists – Lisa, Malo, Neil, and others – raffle drawing, and sale of food.According to the fundraising organizers, tickets are now being sold for $2.00 each. Tickets priced at $5.00 include lunch. “The youth need all the support they can get for this very special trip,” the organizers said, “ please join us.”Interested individuals are asked to contact Hayden at 488-5300 or Don Dengokl at 587-3420.
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