Four thousand young Catholics between the ages of 18 and 35 will meet in the Birmingham Arena on 14 and 15 October for what is considered the most important youth meeting in England and Wales in the last 25 years. Two days of meetings, discussions, games and prayer, as explained on the website that the Catholic Church of England and Wales has dedicated to the event, which will close with a Mass celebrated by the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Murphy O’Connor. The focal point of the meeting will be the centrality of the Word of God in the life of believers, as testified by the slogan chosen for the event: “Find it, own it, live it”. According to Helen Bardy, head of Catholic Youth Services, the youth pastoral office of the English Bishops’ Conference, “Birmingham is not only an opportunity for the young to meet and testify to their faith, but also a chance for them to ‘challenge’ the Church, just as the Church challenges us young people with a proposal of faith”. The programme of the meeting includes interventions by Bishop Ambrose Griffiths, by the Jesuit Glenn Murray on the Eucharist, by the Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols on faith and culture and by Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor himself. A written message by Benedict XVI is also expected.
