Three ships, with a thousand youngsters on board, bound for the World Youth Day in Cologne: this original idea was devised by the diocese of Rotterdam, whose bishop, Msgr. Adrianus van Luyn, explains to SIR: “No sooner had the venue of the next World Youth Day been fixed than we began thinking about whether it was possible to exploit the element we share, in other words the river Rhine. The ‘organizing machine’ then swung into action, aimed at promoting the participation of Dutch youth in the next WYD and a three-day journey by sea to Cologne in August 2005, during which there will be various moments of prayer and spiritual reflection to prepare the young for their meeting with their fellow-youngsters and with the Pope”. In the meantime youth communities are hard at work on a book with the title “Youth on the road. Letters to a young pilgrim”, with nine messages addressed to the new generations on various questions: self-giving, dedication, vocation, profession, meeting, fidelity, and the meaning of life. Translations of the book into other languages have also been announced.
