Seeking an answer” “” “

It will be the youth of Sarajevo who will hand over to the their German counterparts the Cross of World Youth Day on Sunday, 4th April. The ceremony will take place in the basilica of St. John in Berlin, in the course of a mass concelebrated, among others, by Cardinal Georg Sterzinsky and by the president of the Youth Commission of the German Bishops’ Conference, the bishop of Osnabrück Franz-Josef Bode. It will mark the end of the year-long pilgrimage during which the Cross visited 26 European countries, and the beginning of its journey through the dioceses of Germany, with the slogan “Moved by the Cross”. The goal is Cologne, where the 20th WYD will be celebrated in August 2005. A foretaste of what will happen on Sunday 4th April in dioceses throughout the world was given on Thursday, 1st April, in Rome, where the Pope met the young people of Rome: “remain united in the Cross – JOHN PAUL II told them – look to the glory that awaits you. How many sufferings afflict your hearts, often caused by the world of adults… Christ has faith in you and only in Him is the salvation you seek”. And turning to adults, the Pope said: “How much need there is, today, to rethink our way of approaching the young to bring the Gospel to them. We must call ourselves into question if we want to evangelise the world of youth, but with the certainty that today too Christ wants to show his Face to everyone”. AN “UNUSUAL” EVENT. Next Sunday, Palm Sunday and the 19th World Youth Day, six groups of young people from the diocese of Hallam in Northern ENGLAND will depart from their respective parishes and go in pilgrimage to the cathedral of Sheffield, where a liturgy based on the narrative of the Passion according to Luke will be celebrated. At the end of the rite, a small wooden cross and a letter written by the Pope will be given to them. “In England and Wales it’s very rare to celebrate youth on Palm Sunday”, explains Sister Marie Lavin, one of the organizers, “Usually it’s the feast of Christ the King that is dedicated to the young”. An exception is the diocese of Westminster, whose archbishop is the Primate of England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. For Palm Sunday the diocese is planning a mass in the SPEC Youth Centre at Colney, near London, and a series of meetings with discussions, dance, theatre and prayer. Via crucis for the young in memory of the victims of madrid. 14 stations of the Cross that can be followed on the computer: the idea of a virtual Via Crucis is that of the Jesuit priest and mathematician Father Santi Thió, in Spain, where this devotional practice, with a technological character, is gaining ground, especially among the young, who thus prepare themselves for the rites of Easter, preceded by WYD. “The most widespread virtual Via Crucis in Spanish is that on the website www.bromike.com/station/opening.html”, the religious journalist Àngel Rodríguez told SIR. An expert in evangelization on the Internet, Rodríguez also points out other sites (www.terra.es/personal/angerod/crucis.html). Another proposal comes direct from the youth of the Sanctuary of Javier. On webcatolicodejavier.org/viacrucis.html they offer a Via Crucis with many images for contemplation. On the other hand, a real Via Crucis was celebrated in recent days by the youth of Avila to commemorate the victims “of the massacre in Madrid, they too crucified”. A similar initiative is planned for today, 2nd April, in Madrid, promoted by the Jesuits of Pozo del Tío Raimundo, the quarter in which one of the trains of 11th March was blown up. BEARERS OF HOPE. Over 400 youth will participate in the pilgrimage of the Palms in BelgiUM. This traditional event promoted by the National Service of Youth Apostolate precedes the celebration of Palm Sunday. The participants will set out from Gembloux on 3 April and walk the 15-kilometre route to Louvain-La-Neuve. Moments of song, prayer and meditation are planned on the way. The evening of 3 April will be characterised by a great prayer vigil in which many young people will testify to their faith. Meetings between French-, Dutch- and German-speaking Belgian youth are also planned. The final event for them all will be on the afternoon of 4 April in the cathedral of Saint-Michel at Schaerbeek where Cardinal Danneels, archbishop of Brussels, will celebrate mass. “It’s a moment of prayer and meditation”, says Ariane Doeraene, a girl from Tournai. “Many of those who participate are curious to see, others are seeking for ‘meaning’, others come from service in the parishes or in the movements. To each of them this meeting will seek to give answers. It’s the best way to prepare us for WYD in Cologne in 2005”.