The first lamps lit ” “

The 20th World Youth Day will be celebrated on 20 March, “Palm Sunday”. Meanwhile, the young are preparing in their dioceses for the great youth jamboree in Cologne from 11 to 21 August, during which they hope to meet John Paul II, who has confirmed his presence, in spite of his infirmity. BELGIUM, ITALY, AUSTRIA. A moment of eucharistic adoration in the basilica of St. John Lateran, where John Paul II will be present with a message on Thursday, 17 March (at 5.00 pm): that’s how the youth of RomE and other dioceses in Lazio are preparing for WYD. The prayer meeting, officiated by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Vicar of Rome, will include catechesis on the Eucharist by Father Daniel Ange, founder of “Jeunesse lumière”. A lamp will be presented to all the young participants, to be kept alight in their own homes, and a suggested daily prayer. On Sunday 20 March the rendezvous is in St. Peter’s to participate in Palm Sunday Mass (at 10 am). In preparation for WYD in Germany the youth of BelgiUM will participate, as they do each year, in the “Marche des Rameaux” on 19 and 20 March. In this significant pilgrimage of peace and reconciliation hundreds of young people will set out from Louvain-le-neuve, where Cardinal Godfried Danneels, archbishop of Bruxelles-Malines, will greet them. A great vigil in the evening, enlivened by eucharistic animation, hymns and sacred dances, will introduce the celebration of the following day officiated by Msgr. Vancottem, bishop delegate for youth ministry of the Belgian Bishops’ Conference. Approximately one thousand youth from the archdiocese of Vienna will participate in the “diocesan WYD” of Vienna on 19 March, on the vigil of Palm Sunday. The event will begin in front of the Stephansdom at 4.00 pm with a welcome by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, president of the Bishops’ Conference. Singing and praying, the young will them make their way on foot through the streets of the city to the Karlskirche, where a mass will be celebrated. A concert organized by youth of the Philippine and African community will be held at the end of the celebration as a way of expressing the meeting between different cultures, as strongly wished by Cardinal Schönborn. ECUMENICAL INITIATIVE. An ecumenical march with Cologne as its final destination is another way of celebrating the 20th World youth Day. The suggestion comes from the French religious congregations of the Assomption. Some 150-200 Anglicans, Catholics and Orthodox will congregate at Lyon on 6 August, whence, by bus and in part on foot, they will leave for Taizé, Montbéliard and Mulhouse; from there they will travel to Constance and then onwards to Cologne, where they will join the hundreds of thousands of youth participating in WYD. It will be an ecumenical but also an international march, given that the participants will come from Bulgaria, Belgium, England, Germany, Russia, France, Spain and even from as far afield as Vietnam. For further information: www.adveniat.info. TO COLOGNE BY BIKE. One of the most popular means of transport for getting to Cologne for WYD would seem to be the bike, at least according to the following initiatives: “Are you between the ages of 17 and 30 and keen to meet youngsters from the four corners of the world?”: a simple question that is transformed into an invitation to Alsatian youth of the diocese of StrasbOurg. The local Church is in fact busily preparing to participate in WYD in Cologne. The various projects include that being run by Father Fabien Lejeusne, (fabien.lejeusne@assumptio.org) who is organizing the long journey to Cologne by bike. Departure is due to take place from Strasbourg on 8 August. The arrival in Mainz is planned four days later. After three days in Mainz, the participants will leave in buses, leaving their bicycles to be brought by truck behind them, and reach Cologne on 15 August. There they will remain till 21 August, to participate in WYD. Those interested can consult the website www.jmj2005.fr/strasbourg. A double pilgrimage is the proposal of the French movement Adveniat which in this way plans to link Lourdes, annual goal of the members of Adveniat, with Cologne. Again the chosen means of transport is the bicycle, because, as explained on the website www.jmj2005.fr, “in this way the young can test their strength, share community life, discover people’s hospitality stage after stage and experience what a real pilgrimage means”. Coming from various places, the pilgrims by bike will rendezvous at Metz in order to cycle all the way to Cologne. For cycle buffs another project is that devised by the youth ministry of Belgium, in collaboration with the diocese of Trèves. It is organizing a ‘route’ from Namur to Trèves, and from there to Coblenz and Cologne. After having participated in the ‘days of meeting’ prior to WYD from 10 August, the young participants will be in Cologne from 15 to 21 August to take part in catechesis and in the final vigil. For further information: www.jmj.be/jmj.routes/avelo.php.