"Sustainable" and "ecumenical"” “

In just over a year’s time the WYD is to be held in Cologne. The spiritual and logistic preparation of the event is continuing in German dioceses. We continue our presentation of some of the preparatory events. (For further reports see SirEurope nos. 7, 8, 10, 16, 21, 25, 28/2004) THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR THE LAITY IN COLOGNE. A delegation of the Pontifical Council for the Laity visited the archbishopric of Cologne between 9 and 11 May. The delegation included the president and secretary of the Pontifical Council, respectively Msgr. Stanislaw Rylko and Msgr. Josef Clemens, and Father Francis Kohn, in charge of the Council’s youth ministry. The delegation met, among others, the archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, and the secretary of the German Episcopal Conference, Father Hans Langendörfer. The Pontifical Council is coordinating the organization of WYD together with the WYD office in Cologne, the local organizing committee, the representative of the archbishopric of Cologne, the German Episcopal Conference and the Union of German Catholic Youth. “UnitED BY THE CROSS”. visit TO buchenwald. Ecumenical dialogue is making a decisive contribution to WYD 2005: a fact also confirmed by the pilgrimage of the WYD Cross, which began on Palm Sunday. Since 1st May the Cross has been in Erfurt, capital of Thuringia. Here various ecumenical events, inspired by reflection on the Cross as sign of Christian unity, are taking place. The “ecumenical” stage of the symbol of WYD is therefore called “united by the Cross”. It included an ecumenical celebration for youth on 8th May, with a vigil of prayer and meditation and workshops on the meaning of the Cross. On 12 May the Cross is due to visit the concentration camp of Buchenwald where a ceremony “of pardon” will be celebrated. The ceremony is being promoted by Bishop Joachim Wanke of Erfurt, by the chairman of the youth committee of the German Episcopal Conference, Msgr. Franz-Josef Bode, by the Lutheran-Evangelic Bishop of Thuringia, Christoph Kähler, and by the bishop of the Evangelic Church of Saxony, Axel Noack. The Cross is expected to arrive in the diocese of Fulda on 14 May. A “SUSTAINABLE” WYD. The youth meeting in Cologne in 2005 is being heralded as an “ecological” WYD. Particular attention is being devoted to this aspect, as shown by the workshop due to be held in Mainz from 14 to 16 May. Dedicated to the diocesan representatives for the organization of the WYD events, its aim is to raise awareness about the issues of sustainability. “The WYD, as a celebration of the Christian faith, entails the need to assume responsibility for the creation, taking into account the model of sustainable development”, declares the document “Gäste sind ein Segen” (“guests are a blessing”), intended to provide guidelines on ways of providing hospitality to young people visiting Cologne for WYD 2005, and distributed in German dioceses. The brochure defines the characteristics of the German WYD: “The great event must be sustainable, in other words must be organized in an ecological and socially compatible way”. These principles also hold good “for the meeting in the dioceses”. In a statement put out on 6 May, the WYD organizing office emphasised that “the ecological needs are among the primary objectives of the organizers, as also is the return of the area of the meeting to its original state” after the event. “GUESTS ARE A BLESSING”. 30,000 guests, 3000 social projects, 35 stages of the KULTour through the diocese and 60,000 participants in the final celebration before the meeting in Cologne: these are the forecasts being made by the diocese of Essen for the week preceding WYD. “Youth represent a clear priority for us”, declared Bishop Felix Genn of Essen in April. This is just one example of what is being prepared throughout the country for the arrival of the 800,000 young people expects to flock to WYD 2005. For example, 25,000 youth from all over the world are expected in Bamberg, in Bavaria. A wide-ranging cultural programme, with a final festival in the Cathedral square, is being organized, with events in churches, parish centres and many other venues of the picturesque Bavarian town on 14 August, the last day of the “days of meeting” being organized throughout Germany, prior to the transfer to Cologne. The importance of WYD for the German Catholic Church can be inferred from the grassroots logistic organization aimed at providing hospitality to the young participants in WYD 2005 and by the variety of the programmes being offered in the days preceding the meeting with the Pope: festivities, moments of prayer, workshops, realization of social projects. In most dioceses, the official inauguration of the preparatory events coincided with the arrival of the WYD Cross in Germany. Each diocese has a web page devoted exclusively to WYD, containing information on the event and programmes being organized locally, and providing the opportunity to register on-line in the hospitality programme for the young pilgrims by offering to accept them as guests.