France: in the footsteps of Péguy” “

Pilgrimages, musical evenings, prayer meetings, auction sales: just some of the many events being promoted by the Church in France and addressed at young people in particular. The memory of the 12th World Youth Day, held in Paris at the heart of the European continent in 1997, is still strong. Below we list a few of the events on the programme in the months from now until the next World Youth Day in Toronto. Paris-Chartres pilgrimage. It will be held during the Palm Sunday weekend, on the 23 and 24 March. It will start out from the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris and its goal will be the cathedral of Chartres. It is expected to attract some 5,000 students from leading university faculties and schools. The students will be subdivided between twelve different routes, in groups varying from 150 to 500. And as each year, each group will be organized for moments of prayer, song and reflection. The tradition of the pilgrimage goes back to 1912, the year in which the writer Charles Péguy decided to walk from Paris to Chartres, after making a vow at the bedside of his sick son. After the poet’s death (1914), some of his friends re-traced the same route, and so an annual tradition came to be established. Towards Toronto. Gospel concerts, auction sales, actions of solidarity: by such events the dioceses of France are preparing to go to Toronto. Young people have thus organized a so-called “Faith-music-chocolate” evening at Versailles on 6 April and a gospel concert is planned for 23 June. Youngsters have held an auction sale at Séez, in Normandy, to collect the necessary funds. Their website declares: “There aren’t many of us but we do have excellent ideas”. At Marseilles, on the Mediterranean coast, the parishes are “sponsoring” a young person who was chosen to represent the youth of the city at World Youth Day. In Paris, Cardinal Lustiger urged some 3,000 young people gathered in the cathedral of Notre-Dame to participate in the Toronto event: “Don’t forget that the Holy Father is expecting you!”. The archbishop’s next meeting with youth is planned for 26 May. At the present time, there are about a thousand youngsters enrolled in World Youth Day, aged between 17 and 35. On 16 March, the WYD delegates from all over France met together in Paris to examine preparations for the event with Father Francis Kohn and Father Thomas Rosica, director of the WYD office in Toronto. Navigating on the Internet. To back up local events, there are two Internet sites at the disposal of those who wish to seek further information before deciding to participate. The first is www.inxl6.org, and is the official site of the youth apostolate, linked to the Bishops’ Conference of France and created after the WYD in Rome. The other site is www.christicity.com and was set up by the “Nouvelle Évangélisation” association. Its success was confirmed by the international multimedia forum in Rome, because out of twenty pre-selected sites, christicity took second place, after the site of Hong-Kong. The “WYD” generation. This is the generation of young people who have grown up with the WYD. An experience – they say – that has changed their life. Charlotte, 26 years old, tells how her experience of World Youth Day in Paris in 1997 changed her point of view, especially towards the Church: “I decided to decided to devote myself to activities in the diocese – she says – and right from the start I found myself respected and involved”. “My attitude to the Church – declares Yann, 35 years old, from Toulon – was reborn, and when I found out that the diocese was seeking a young person to handle communication, I proposed myself for the job”. Augustin, (26 years old), after WYD in 1997, decided to enter a seminary to study for the priesthood. “The WYDs – he says – were the occasion for a meeting with God that strengthened my vocation”.