“ Our youngsters have been participating in World Youth Days for at least ten years. The greatest participation was during the Holy Year in Rome. But we’ll also be present at Toronto“. So declares Father Thedore Kontidis, national head of the youth pastoral service of the Greek Episcopal Conference who has described for us the preparations going ahead for the next WYD. “In preparation for Toronto he says we’ve translated John Paul II’s Message to young people and distributed it in the dioceses and parishes. At the beginning of December last year we organized, close to Athens, a study seminar for youth animators on the Pope’s message: ‘You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world’. The aim was to identify ideas and methods of presenting the Message to young people. A meeting is planned in Athens to celebrate Youth Day together on 24 and 25 March”. The international appeal of the WYD in Toronto is strong for Catholic youth in Greece: “Catholics represent a small community continues Fr. Kontidis so that’s why it’s very important for us to participate in international meetings. This gives us the consciousness of the universality of the Church. It instils us with courage and makes us feel part of the great people of God present throughout the world”. In Rome, together with the youth of the Greek group, there were youngsters from Poland and from various other countries: Lebanon, Korea, Albania. “This is a fact that reflects a new situation for the Catholic Church in Greece. In fact the majority of Catholics in this country are immigrants who have arrived in Greece over the last 15 years. So one of the most important challenges for us is to learn to live together and form a single body in Christ”. Toronto? “It’s still a little too early concludes Fr. Kontidis but we’ll do all we can to be present there. At the moment we estimate a group of over thirty youngsters bound for Canada”. The pastoral care of the Catholic minority in Greece (0.50% of the population according to the statistical yearbook of the Church) is assigned to 9 bishops assisted by 91 priests.
