The youth of the country respond enthusiastically to the proposal to attend the event which will begin on July 25. So far 170 have enrolled, not counting volunteers. Secretary of Youth Ministry: "The young people are not made intimidated by the high cost, but have personally raised the funds for the trip." In 2017 Indonesia will host the Asian Youth Day.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Hundreds of young Indonesians have welcomed the proposal to attend the World Youth Day (WYD), to be held in late July, and have collected the money to pay for the trip that will take them to Poland to meet with Pope Francis.
According to local sources, nearly 200 young people from 22 dioceses have registered to attend the event which will be held July 25 to 31 in Krakow. 18 volunteers have also registered with the Commission for Youth Ministry (Komkep KWI). The latter will depart July 19 with Fr. Antonius Haryanto, a priest of the Diocese of Bandung, responsible for the entire pilgrimage.
The priest said that the great desire of young people to participate in the WYD prompted them to go beyond the economic barrier (the trip costs about 2 thousand dollars each), seeking and finding some donors that have helped them to cover the costs: "For today, dozens of youth in our community have contacted Komkep Kwi to inform of their firm intention to participate. "
According to Fr. Haryanto, the presence of Pope Francis is one of the main reasons behind the enthusiasm of young people, who do not want to miss the opportunity to see the Pope and take part in Mass with him: "The WYD - he says - is a kind of spiritual journey for young people, where they can meet and get to know people from different parts of the world to celebrate one faith with them and experience the same values within the Catholic Church".
Anyone who wants to participate, the priest explained, is obligated to register online: "Everyone sends their application and later the Komkep Kwi contacts the individual diocesan commissions for information on candidates. Then it makes a sort of election to decide the representatives of each group. "
Msgr. Pius Riana Prabdi Pr, Bishop of Ketapang (West Kalimantan), will fly to Krakow to accompany the young people. The prelate said that Indonesia has already begun the preparation, with the dioceses that organize community events among the participants. Every weekend, young people gather in groups to meet and share their reasons to make the pilgrimage. Some are preparing cultural performances to be staged during the WYD.
The Indonesian Catholic youth will be the focus of two other important events for the Church in the near future. In October, the diocese of Manado (North Sulawesi) will host the Indonesian Youth Day in 2016. In 2017 the Archdiocese of Semarang and Yogyakarta will host the Asian Youth Day.