• Sydney was announced as the host city for the 23rd World Youth Day

• WYD08 will be the largest event Australia has hosted. It will attract

• WYD08 will mark the first visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to

• The Archdiocese of Sydney has established the World Youth Day Trust

• The event has the strong support of the NSW and Australian

• The NSW Government has created a special agency - the World Youth

• The NSW Government is responsible for providing public transport,

• The Australian Government is responsible for Papal security and

• WYD08 events will take place in venues across Sydney. The majority

• After lunch, pilgrims will make their way into the city for the major

World Youth Day Sydney 2008 Fact Sheet

• 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

• The week culminates in a Final Mass celebrated by the Pope on the last day (the actual World Youth Day). Typically, it is the largest event of

• The Pontifical Council for the Laity (PCL) – a key Vatican body - is

• World Youth Day was established by Pope John Paul II in 1986 as an

• Pope John Paul II was inspired by the massive gatherings of young

• Pope John Paul II saw World Youth Day as a way to reach out to the

• World Youth Day is a pilgrimage of faith, where young people from

• World Youth Day is an invitation from the Pope to the youth of the

As at this posting there are 30 days to go for World Youth Day in Sydney.
Preparation for this event is amazing. In our own parish we are currently preparing for the pilgrims we are hosting in the week preceding WYD - Days In The Diocese. Our parish is hosting 91 Irish Pilgrims and 10 from Ghana …. and still counting. It’s an exciting time for all of us. I’ll be looking forward to meeting them all.

WYD08 will mark the first visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Australia. WYD is an invitation from the Pope to the youth of the world to celebrate their faith around a particular theme. Everyone is welcome to attend.

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.

Organised by the Catholic Church, WYD brings together young people from around the globe to celebrate and learn about their faith on a more regular basis.

WYD08 will be the largest event Australia has ever hosted. It will attract over 125,000 international visitors - more than the 2000 Olympics.

WYD08 will mark the first visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Australia.

Through the WYD08 experience, young people from throughout the world will make a pilgrimage in faith, meet, and experience the love of God.

World Youth Day is an invitation from the Pope to the youth of the world to celebrate their faith around a particular theme.

Everyone is Welcome to attend. For more details go to WYD08 web site.

Anzac Day, the day we remember our fallen soldiers…… The day we remember their sacrifice, the great price they paid to ensure our freedom today. Sadly, it also reminds us of the tragedies of war, scenes orhestrated by the powers at hand & commanders & played out in a brutal furnace ……a sad waste. Yet, we reflect and pray that lives would not be wasted like this again. Do we learn from history?

To glorify war is wrong …. but to remember the fallen is respectful, and an honourable thing to do; and hopefully a reminder that we must work towards peace.

The Ode

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

The Ode comes from For the Fallen, a poem by the English poet and writer Laurence Binyon and was published in London in The Winnowing Fan: Poems of the Great War in 1914. This verse, which became the Ode for the Returned and Services League, has been used in association with commemoration services in Australia since 1921.

Lest We Forget.

Here is a father who loves his son dearly but is presented with a situation where a difficult decision must be made …. quickly.

A simple story, beautiful and profound ……. what would you do?

“Each of us is an individual, a person , a creature of God, one of his children, someone very special whom God loves and for whom Christ died. This identity of ours determines the way we must live, the way we must act, the way we must view our mission in the world. We come from God, we depend on God, God has a plan for us - a plan for our lives, for our bodies, for our souls, for our future. This plan for us is extremely important - so important that God became man to expalin it to us”.

            Meeting with youth, New Orleans, 1987

                                                            Pope John Paul II

“Mercy in itself, as a perfection of the infinite God, is also infinie. Also infinte therefore and inexhaustible is the Father’s readiness to receive the prodigal children who return to his home. Infinite are the readiness and power of forgiveness which flow continually from the marvelous value of the sacrifice of the Son. No human sin can prevail over this power or even limit it. On the part of man only a lack of good will can limit it, a lack of readiness to be converted and to repent, in other words persistence in obstinacy, opposing grace and truth, especially in the face of the witness of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ”.

            Dives In Misericordia

“When it comes to salvation in the kingdom of God, it is not a question of just wages, but of the undeserved generosity of God, who gives himself as the supreme gift to each and every person who shares in divine life through sanctifying grace”.

            Homily at Detroit

                                                       Pope John Paul II

God Bless,

Elena

 May the Resurrection Power of our Lord Jesus Christ flow as a spring of fresh water around the nations, and may the Spirit of Truth fall upon the Nations, setting the captives free, making the blind to see, setting free the oppressed and healing hte broken hearted. 

We Rejoice, and sing the Alleluia choruses.

Buona Pasqua!   -  Happy Easter!

God Bless,

Elena

“Through Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, the victory of the Kingdom of God has been achieved once and for all. Nevertheless, the Christian life involves a struggle against temptation and the forces of evil. Only at the end of history will the Lord return in glory for the final judgement with the establishment of a new heavan and a new earth; but as long as time lasts, the struggle between good and evil continues even in the human heart itself”.

            Centimus Annus

“Christ, in revealing the love-mercy of God, at the same time demanded from people that they also should be guided in their lives by love and mercy. This requirement forms part of the very essence of the messianic message, and constitutes the heart of the Gospel ethos”.

            Dives In Misericordia

Forgiveness demonstates the presence in the world of the love which is more powerful than sin. Forgiveness is also the fundamental condition for reconciliation, not only in the relationship of God with man, but also in relationships between people. A world from which forgiveness was eliminated would be nothing but a world of cold and unfeeling justice, in the name of which each person would claim his or her own right vis-a vis others …”

            Dives In Misericordia

                                                  Pope John Paul II