It’s Mission week during ‘Days in the Diocese’ event at WYD 2013

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, April 10, 2012—World Youth Day Rio 2013 organizers have announced that the traditional ‘Days in the Dioceses’ celebration, a week before the WYD proper will be called the Missionary Week.

“The country’s traditional ‘Days in the Dioceses’ will instead be a Missionary Week which will be held on July 17-20, prior to the proper celebration of the World Youth Day on July 23-28, 2013 here in Rio,” said Fr. Jefferson Goncalves, director for pre-WYD activities.

“The decision to turn the ‘Days in the Dioceses’ into a missions week was made by Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, during his visit to Rio de Janeiro in February,” said in an article posted in the Catholic News Agency.

The organizers pointed out that the week aims to give young people the chance to participate in spiritual activities, works of solidarity with the local communities as well as missionary and cultural events.

They also emphasized that during the ‘days in the dioceses’, Brazilian families will provide hospitality for the young people taking part in the said Missionary Week, to give them a more authentic experience of what life locally is like.

Goncalves hopes that the experience of leading young people into missionary discipleship will become a legacy to future World Youth Days.

Early this year, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Youth through executive secretary Fr. Conegundo Garganta, has called on the Filipino youth to prepare for the upcoming World Youth Day celebration in 2013.

“Although the event is more than a year away, pilgrims have to start making physical, mental, spiritual and financial preparations this early,” he said.

Garganta added that pilgrims, especially those without prior WYD experience, should get ready to adapt on the WYD’s realities of long walks, loaded-schedules, and climate variations, among others.

“They have to study and prepare for the rigors of daily requirements. They have to be physically and mentally ready for those,” he added, citing common complaints of past WYD pilgrims. (Jandel Posion)

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