The first national meeting of Swiss youth, with the slogan “Arise!”, will be held in the arena of Bern from 5 to 6 June 2004. According to preliminary forecasts, it is expected that some 10,000 youngsters will participate. The Swiss Episcopal Conference has invited the Pope who, as the Swiss bishops themselves have reported, is due to arrive on Sunday 6 June and will meet the young at a mass in the morning. A “great meeting of friendship, sharing and celebration of the faith”: that’s how the bishops are presenting the event. Its aim is to “give a chance to all the youth of the parishes, movements and other organization to meet together to strengthen their faith and share their experiences”. In presenting the event, Msgr. Denis Theurillat, the bishop in charge of the episcopate’s youth office, spoke of the “challenges”, the first of which is to invite “the young to set out on the journey” to Bern to share “a strong experience of life” and “achieve unity”. “Our country he explained is particularly rich in the diversities of its three linguistic regions. The meeting will permit the participants to testify that unity among Swiss youth is possible. They are therefore called to give and receive”.
